Looking Back
by aurorababe
Summary: Chapter 22 & 23 up-Kat and Dally talk at the diner and Kat reminisces about some good times
1. Chapter 1

**A/N** -- Hello! This is my first FanFic. The first few chapters will be a little slow and are set a few months after the book. In later chapters the story will flashback to the events of the book and then will continue on from there. As you will see from the first few chapters, I have made some changes to the events in the book. (Namely Dallas and Johnny don't die-I know this will make some readers very happy!) Also there are a few original characters-one in particular. Please read and review if you want-Otherwise, enjoy!

**Disclaimer** -- I do not own 'The Outsiders' or the characters from the book.

**Chapter 1**

The sun was shining brightly on me when I opened my eyes. I blinked slightly and rolled over in bed. I looked beside me to find the other side of the bed empty. 'Hmm,' I thought, 'Wonder where he went so early? Maybe he's making breakfast' I smiled to myself then shook my head with a silent laugh. It was a great thought, but it would probably never happen. I rolled onto my back and stretched my arms and legs, taking up the whole bed. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment, the sun warming my face, enjoying the quiet, still room. Slowly I pulled myself into a sitting position and tried to stifle a yawn. I'm not really a morning person, but there were things to do today. I threw my legs over the side of the bed and placed my feet on the floor. I looked around the room for my jeans, which I had thrown off the night before. They were laying in a lump on the floor at the end of the bed. I stood and grabbed them, pulling them on. I stripped off the men's button down shirt I was wearing, grinning to myself. I didn't even remember putting it on last night. There was a laundry basket sitting beside the dresser filled with clean clothes, waiting to be put away. I grabbed a clean shirt off the top, put it on, then rifled through the basket to find a pair of socks. I turned and scanned the room searching for my cowboy boots. I found them in the corner and I sat on the edge of the bed as I pulled on first the socks then the boots. I stood and looked in the mirror above the dresser, grabbed a hair tie and pulled my long brown hair into a messy ponytail and rubbed my eyes. A shower would have to wait until later. There were things that needed to get done.

I opened the bedroom door and stepped out into the short hallway. Immediately I was bombarded with Jimi Hendrix's 'Foxy Lady' blaring from the radio, the shouts of young men coming from the living room. I could smell bacon and heard a voice yell, "Has anyone seen my other shoe?"

I headed down the stairs and turned the corner to the kitchen and was immediately sprayed in the face with a squirt gun. I looked up at my attacker and was greeted by a grinning fifteen year old. He looked back at me, his amused eyes darting back and forth, trying to decide whether to laugh or to run. He decided to run, revealing the little blonde haired, blued eyed, six year old girl who had been standing behind him. She too was holding a squirt gun. She pointed it toward me. I knelt down to her level, looking her directly in the eyes and raising my eyebrows as if challenging her to use it. She looked up at me with a huge grin, resolved not to risk it, laughed and ran off, chasing her partner in crime I just wiped the water from my face and shook my head, 'Saves me washing my face,' I thought with a chuckle. I walked into the kitchen and found a pan of half eaten bacon on the counter. I grabbed a slice and stuck it in my mouth, it was cold, but crispy. I grabbed another piece and headed into the living room. No one looked up as I entered the room and stood near the doorway. There were several young men sprawled around the living room, in various positions, chatting with each other, reading the paper, and listening to the radio. The TV was on, the volume turned high so you could hear it over the radio. There was a guy lying on his stomach in front of the TV. The little blonde girl was sitting on his back. There was an empty wheelchair in the corner behind a chair.

'Ah another morning in the Curtis house,' I grinned to myself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Morning," I said to no one in particular. I few grumbles and nods were sent in my direction, but no one looked up. I smiled, knowing that the guys were avoiding me, trying to avoid the work that lay ahead of us. It was also the reason they had let me sleep in this morning. 'Smart,' I thought, 'I probably would have done the same.'

"Um, guys," I said looking around at them. They slowly looked up, but avoided actually looking at me, "I hate to have to remind everyone what today is, but…." I stopped short. I really did hate to do this. It was the first day of summer vacation. Everyone just wanted to hang out and enjoy the warm weather, me included. "We have to get this place cleaned up before the social worker gets here, inside and out, top and bottom."

"Kat's right, let's get a move on," Darry stood up from his chair, where he had been reading the paper. He rubbed his hands together and looked around the room at the others, "Come on, there's things to do!"

There was groaning and grumbling, but everyone stood waiting for their assignments. Darry took over, "Ponyboy, Johnny you've got inside. Living room and dining room."

Ponyboy stood, nodded to Darry and turned to Johnny who was sitting beside him on the couch. Ponyboy bent over and slid his arm under Johnny's legs and put his other arm around his waist. Johnny wrapped his arms around Ponyboy's neck as he lifted him. Darry quickly slid the wheelchair from the corner closer to Ponyboy as he set Johnny into it gently. Johnny looked up at him and smiled slightly, "Thanks buddy." Ponyboy grinned and turned back to Darry.

"Steve, Soda you've got outside. Front yard and front porch. Rake the leaves and pick up the garbage. And mow the lawn," Darry added as the two of them bounded out the front door, pushing each other to see who could get out the fastest.

"Two-Bit, you've got the bedrooms in the attic, tidy up and make the beds. Make sure there's no dirty clothes laying around." Darry looked at Two-Bit sternly, "and try not to get too sidetracked, huh?"

Two-Bit cocked an eyebrow and grinned. "Me?" he asked incredulously, "Never!" Darry only stared back at him seriously. Two-Bit grinned even wider and with a chuckle headed out of the room as well.

"Kat, I'll take the backyard, you do the kitchen and the other bedrooms, alright?" Darry looked at me. I nodded in agreement.

"Darry, how bout me?" a quiet voice asked. Darry looked down at the small girl and smiled.

"You, Emma my dear, are on garbage detail, okay?" Darry replied, "Anything in this house that doesn't belong, gets tossed. That includes all these pop and beer bottles. Got it?" Emma nodded her head earnestly, taking in what Darry had said.

"Emma," I said. She turned to me and I continued, "You also have to clean some of your toys up in your room, it's a mess."

"Okay Kat," she said cheerfully as if cleaning up was just another game everyone was playing with her.

I smiled back, "Emma, sweetie, don't forget, when the social worker comes you need to call me mom. It seems weird to them when you call me Kat."

"Okay mom!" Emma said with a shrug as she skipped out of the room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

I turned to Darry. He smiled at me, then frowned when I didn't return his smile. He walked toward me and put his hands on my shoulders squeezing them gently. "I know you're worried Kat, but it's gonna be fine. You're making me and everyone else a nervous wreck. You gotta try to relax. This is the second visit from the social worker since the custody hearing and the last one was pretty good. No sweat."

I looked up at him and tried to smile. 'Yeah, no sweat,' I thought, thinking back to the last visit from the social worker. She had inspected every inch of the house; every bedroom, she'd looked in closets and the fridge. She'd asked the whole family questions about how the new living arrangements were working out, what our friends were like, how Ponyboy was doing in school, what our jobs were like. It had been horrible and I had been dreading this visit for weeks. I forced a smile, for Darry's sake and turned to Ponyboy and Johnny who were folding some blankets and collecting dirty dishes.

"Ponyboy, Johnny I'll be in the kitchen if you need any help," I said to both of them.

"Sure sis," Pony replied, Johnny just nodded.

"Could you guys check on Emma in a few minutes, she'll probably be playing instead of cleaning," I said with a chuckle.

"Sure sis," Pony said again, then he turned to Johnny, "This works pretty good, huh Johnny," Pony asked his friend with a laugh. Johnny only nodded again, but this time with a smile. I had to laugh at the two of them. Johnny was sitting in his wheelchair; Pony was piling his lap high with dirty dishes.

I began to leave the room, but then stopped and turned to Johnny, Pony and Darry who was still there, "Hey, by the way guys," I said. The three looked up at me, "Where's Dally?" I asked.

Emma had come back into the room holding a garbage bag that was almost as big as she was she looked at Darry her eyes questioning, "Yeah, where's Daddy?"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N** -- Okay so now you know that it is yet another Curtis sister Fic. Sorry for those of you who don't like them.

**Disclaimer **– I don't own 'The Outsiders' only the original characters

**Chatper 4**

"I think he went to buy some groceries," Darry said with a laugh. I looked at him skeptically and then laughed too. Dallas Winston grocery shopping. I never thought I'd see the day.

I thought back to the day before when Dallas and I had been sitting on the back porch having a cigarette. I had been telling him how worried I was about the visit from the social worker.

"_I hate this. Its not fair. We've been getting along just fine and now some stupid social worker is going to come in here and scrutinize every little thing about us," I said with a sigh as I took a long drag on my cigarette._

_Dallas let out a laugh, his eyes dancing. I stared back at him, my brow furrowed. I was annoyed that he would laugh at me. "It's not funny Dallas. Did you know last time the social worker was here she looked in the fridge?? The fridge! What did she expect to find? A loaded gun sitting beside the milk?"_

_Dallas laughed again and I glared at him. "I'm glad this seems funny to you, but it's not to me." I said with a huff, "If she looks in the fridge this time, what's she gonna find? A chocolate cake and beer! That's gonna look great, huh? One more thing we gotta do in the morning, go grocery shopping." I finished with a sigh. Dallas was looking at me with a funny smirk on his face._

"_Ah it'll be okay," Dallas said with a shrug, not letting any of this bother him. I guess I was strung out enough for everyone. He turned and put his arm over my shoulder and gave me a gentle squeeze._

_I smiled at him and nodded. I wasn't convinced, but his calmness was reassuring, "Yeah you're right. It's gonna be fine."_

Who knew that Dallas would take my griping as motivation to go grocery shopping? I smiled at the thought of the tough hood wandering the aisles of the grocery store looking for eggs and bread. My thoughts were interrupted by Emma's high-pitched giggling.

Darry had scooped Emma up in his arms in one swift movement and was swinging her in the air. She was laughing so hard I thought she was going to explode.

A voice broke through the giggling, "You better put her down, Darry or she's gonna puke on you." I turned to see Dallas standing in the doorway holding a few bags of groceries in his arms.

"That'd be pretty funny!" Soda said, coming into the house behind Dallas, his arms filled with grocery bags.

"I'm not gonna puke Daddy," Emma said with a giggle as Darry put her down.

Dallas cringed at Emma's comment and looked down at her, "Why do you gotta call me Daddy?" he asked her slightly annoyed. He put the grocery bags on the coffee table and knelt down to her.

"Kat said I gotta call her Mom so don't that mean I gotta call you Daddy?" Emma said looking at Dallas, her eyes big, remembering the last time the social worker had visited.

Dallas's scowl turned into a big grin as he stood and picked her up. "Not 'til the stupid social worker gets her, Em. 'Til then not Daddy, just Dally!"

"Don't call the social worker stupid in front of Emma, Dally," I said to him.

"But she is stupid!" Emma said brashly. She looked at me quickly and noticed my frown, "Sorry Kat," she said sheepishly.

Dally smiled at me slightly in an effort to apologize. I smiled back at him and Emma, not being able to stay mad at either of them.

Steve came in the front door, only carrying one grocery bag. I laughed, "You're so helpful Steve-O!" I exclaimed. He turned to me with a scowl.

Dally put Emma down and she ran to Steve, "I can carry it Steve!" she said with enthusiasm, taking the bag from Steve and carrying it into the kitchen.

"I bet you can Em, it's so _tiny_," Ponyboy said with a laugh as he followed her into the kitchen. This earned him a playful slap across the head from Steve and the two of them started wrestling around the kitchen, running into Dallas and Soda who set their grocery bags down on the counter. Darry, Johnny, Steve and I joined Soda, Dally and Emma in the kitchen. Everyone was pulling things out of the grocery bags informing the others how much they liked this or didn't like that.

Two-Bit came through the doorway carrying a laundry basket, piled high with clothes from upstairs, "Here Kitty Kat, where do ya want this?"

I looked at him and groaned, "Two-Bit, some of those are clean! You just mixed up all the clean clothes with dirty ones!"

He looked back at me with a blank stare, "Well…I…ah man!" he exclaimed. "I've never done laundry before, how was I supposed to know?" I had to laugh. He looked so depressed, likehe wasa little kid who had just been told there was nosuch thing as Santa Claus.

"Don't worry about it Two-Bit, I'll just wash everything, okay?" I said. He gave me a big grin and I added, "and I'm teaching you how to do laundry _very soon_!" Hisface fellimmediately and he stuck his tongue out at me in retaliation.

I looked around the room taking in the action around me. I smiled. So much had changed this past year. I smiled again, my worries about the visit from the social worker fading slightly. I wanted to freeze this moment. All the people I loved in one room laughing and having a good time.

Steve and Ponyboy were still wrestling around. If someone had told me a year ago that Ponyboy and Steve would be goofing off together I would have laughed in their face. But here they were, actually enjoying each other's company.

Darry had Emma on his back and was spinning around in circles. She was laughing hysterically, tears running down her face. Emma had done something to Darry. He was the older brother I remembered from our childhood; happy, sweet, fun Darry that I had missed so much after mom and dad had died.

Darry put Emma down and she crawled gently into Johnny's lap. Emma hadn't just changed Darry; she'd changed all of us. Johnny whispered something into her ear and she looked up at him her eyes wide. When Johnny laughed, she did too. She wrapped her arms around Johnny's neck and kissed him on the forehead. Johnny smiled and that made me smile. Johnny loved Emma more that he'd ever loved anyone or anything.

Sodapop had taken a carton of eggs out of a bag and was trying to get to the fridge to put them away, but Ponyboy and Steve were blocking him. "Move it or loose it boys!" Soda said in a goofy, deep voice. Soda was still my happy-go-lucky, little brother, but he'd grown more responsible over the past year. He looked at Steve and Pony sternly as he put the eggs in the fridge, "The least you two could do is help." He stated trying to act stern. He broke into a grin that gave him away.

I looked at Dallas. Who ever thought he would go to a grocery store and actually _pay_ for what he was taking? He'd changed the most this past year. He was still Dallas Winston, the tough hood from New York. But little things had changed, he smiled more, laughed more. He let people know where he was going and when he'd be back. He even got a job. A part time job, but it was a paying job nonetheless. To someone on the outside of our gang they would say that Dallas Winston hadn't changed at all. But we knew he had.

Two-Bit had joined the others in going through the grocery bags and had pulled out some grapes. "Grapes!" he exclaimed, "Where's the beer man?" I laughed. I guess some things never change!

I thought back to nine months earlier, when it seemed like things would never be normal again. So many things had changed in such a short period of time. I didn't think we'd make it through, but we had. I smiled, remembering.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N** -- This chapter starts the flashback. It will start where the bookbegan and follow it fairly closly. I have made a few changes just to work things into my story. I will continue with the events of the bookup until the rumble,at which point I will sort of veer off in my own direction. A few points: 1) The story will be from Katrina's point of view 2) My version takes place 6 months after the death of the Curtis parents (Making it late September 1966) 3) I made Two-Bit and Dallas a little bit older, again just to work into my storyline. 4) I made Dallas grow up in New York and move to Tulsa when he was eleven, after his mother died (I know that itsn't what happened in the book)

When using scenes from the book I tried to follow the dialogue and such pretty closly. I think that it helps keep the storyline straight. (In my opinion anyway.) Also in this Chapter I describe all of the characters. I have pretty much followed the descriptions from the book because, well really, they are better descriptions than I could ever duplicate.

This is a long chapter so bear with me.

**Disclaimer **– I don't own 'The Outsiders' only the original characters

**Chapter 5**

I had just gotten home from work on a chilly September evening when I heard screaming coming from the empty lot down the street.

"Jesus Christ, that's Ponyboy," I looked at my older brother Darrel, my eyes wide, as we and the rest of the gang jumped up, ran out the door and to the empty lot down the street.

We ran up to find a bunch of Socs beating on my baby brother Ponyboy. The Socs are the Socials, the jet-set, the West-side rich kids. It's like the term 'greaser,' which is used to classify us kids on the East-side. We're poorer than the Socs and the middle class. I reckon we're wildered too. Not like the Socs, who jump greasers and wreck houses and throw beer blasts for kicks. My brothers and their friends are greasers and I suppose I could be considered one too. Greasers are almost like hoods; we steal things and drive souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have gang fights once in a while.

Sodapop, my other younger brother, and the rest of gang ran off chasing after the Socs.

"Are you alright, Ponyboy?"

Darrel, who we call Darry, was shaking my little brother Ponyboy. Darry is six-feet-two, broad shouldered and muscular. He is twenty years old. He has dark hair that kicks out in front and a slight cowlick in the back – just like Dad's – but Darry's eyes are his own, He's got eyes that are like two pieces of pale-green ice. They've got a determined set to them, like the rest of him. He looks older than twenty—tough, cool and smart. He would be real handsome if his eyes weren't so cold. He doesn't understand anything that is not plain hard fact. But he uses his head.

"Darry quit shakin' him," I said.

I could tell by the look on Pony's face that Darry's shaking was hurting him, and knowing Pony, he wasn't going to say anything to Darry. Darry and Ponyboy didn't understand each other too well. Ponyboy was quiet and sensitive. A dreamer. He had just turned fourteen and was tall and lean, not muscular like Darry, but he was tough enough and could hold his own in a fair fight. He had light-brown, almost red hair and green eyes like me. Ponyboy liked poetry and stories. Darry worked too long and hard to be interested in a story or drawing a picture. Since mom and dad were killed in an auto accident in March, Darry, Sodapop and I had been working in order to put food on the table and clothes on our backs. Darry being the oldest, and I have to admit, the most responsible, worked harder than the rest of us and he took life pretty seriously.

"Yeah Darry, quit shaking me, I'm okay," Ponyboy said, his voice shaky.

He stopped. "I'm sorry."

He wasn't really; both Pony and I knew it.

Darry stood up jammed his fists in his pockets and began pacing. "They didn't hurt you too bad, did they?" 

"I'm okay," Ponyboy answered.

I knew he was lying, I always knew what my brothers were thinking, my dad always said it was woman's intuition. My mother believed that I have a gift, a sixth sense she called it. My mom always believed in spiritual stuff like that, not like God and religion, but Fate, spirits, sixth senses. My dad and Darry and Sodapop would laugh and tease us about it, but mom and I always believed, so did Ponyboy.

Sodapop came bouncing back. He knelt down beside Ponyboy. He looked quizzically at his head

"You got cut up a bit, huh Ponyboy?"

He got a handkerchief from his pocket. He wet the end of it with his tongue and pressed it gently to Pony's head.

"You're bleedin' like a stuck pig."

"I am?" Ponyboy asked surprised.

"Look!" Soda showed Pony the handkerchief, which was now red with blood, "Did they pull a blade on you?"

"Yeah," Ponyboy replied quietly. I looked down at the ground and shook my head softly. Poor Ponyboy, it's just not fair he's so sweet; he doesn't deserve to get beat up. Pony was shaking and looked away from us, I could see tears forming in his eyes. I knelt down beside him and Soda and I each put a hand on his shoulders.

"It's okay Ponyboy," Soda said soothingly.

"Yeah, we ain't gonna let them hurt you anymore," I added.

"Yeah Ponyboy, Kat'll pound 'em all if they come back," Soda said with a laugh referring to my ability to fight just as well as my brothers.

Ponyboy let out a small laugh and grinned at Soda. I had to grin too—Soda could make you grin no matter what. Soda was the most handsome person I had ever known. Everyone thought he was a doll and the girls lined up to get a look at him. He wasn't near as tall as Darry; in fact Soda and I were pretty much the same height, which was still pretty tall, almost five foot ten. Everyone liked to tease Soda that he was so short that his sister was as tall as him, but the fact was that I was taller than most girls. Soda could have cared less what people said about him. Soda would be seventeen in a few weeks, just a day before I turned nineteen. Soda had a finely drawn sensitive face that somehow seemed to be reckless and thoughtful at the same time. He had dark-gold hair that he combed back. His eyes were dark brown—lively, dancing, recklessly laughing eyes that could be gentle and sympathetic one moment and blazing with anger the next. He had dad's eyes, but Soda was one of a kind. He could get drunk in a drag race or dancing without ever getting near alcohol. In our neighborhood it was rare to find a kid who didn't drink once in a while. But Soda never touched a drop-he didn't need to. He could get drunk on just plain living. And he understood everyone.

Ponyboy let out another laugh, "You're crazy, Soda, out of your mind."

Darry looked at them as if they were speaking another language. "You're both nuts."

I laughed at that, because Darry did think that our little brothers were nuts most of the time. He thought the same thing of me most of the time too, although he put up with my antics more than Soda's and Pony's. Even though sometimes I thought Darry was too serious; too hard on Ponyboy and too easy on Soda, I still loved him. Darry and I had always been close, just like Soda and Ponyboy were close. As much as Darry teased me and said he didn't understand me, he did. We had always understood each other, ever since we were little kids.

Soda grinned, "Crazy seems to run in this family."

Darry stared at him blankly then grinned.

Our gang had chased the Socs to their car and had heaved rocks at them. They came running towards us now—four lean, hard guys. They were all tough as nails, and looked it. Seeing them coming towards us I sighed in relief. I felt comfortable around these tough, young men, safe. I knew as long as they were around no harm would come to me or my brothers. We looked out for one another. They looked out for me even more so; because I was a girl or because I was Darry's little sister I'm not sure-and it didn't matter to me. I was part of the gang and I was safe with them around.

Steve Randle was in the lead. At seventeen he was tall and lean, with thick greasy hair he kept combed in complicated swirls. He was cocky, smart and Soda's best buddy since grade school. Steve's specialty was cars. He could lift a hubcap quicker and more quietly than anyone in the neighborhood, but he also knew cars upside-down and backward, and he could drive anything on wheels. Steve was the one who taught me how to hotwire a car, it was a skill that had come in handy more than a few times. He and Soda worked at the same gas station—Steve part time and Soda full time—and their gas station got more customers than any other in town. Whether that was because Steve was so good with cars or because Soda attracted girls like honey draws flies, I couldn't tell you. Although he had quite the temper, I didn't mind Steve. He stood up for himself and his buddies and he was always nice to me. I liked to spend time at the gas station with Steve because he was teaching me about cars, and was helping me to fix up dad's old jeep. We finally had it running, but it still needed work.

Two-Bit Mathew was following Steve. Two-Bit was the wisecracker of the bunch. He was about six feet tall, stocky in build and very proud of his long rusty-colored sideburns. He had grey eyes and a wide grin and he couldn't stop making funny remarks to save his life. Most of the time you couldn't shut him up; he always had to get his two bits worth in. Hence his nickname. Even his teachers forgot his name was Keith, and most people hardly remember he had one; the only time I ever called him by his real name was when I was mad at him or wanted to bug him. Life was one big joke to Two-Bit. He was famous for shoplifting and his black handled switchblade (which he couldn't have acquired without his first talent.) He liked fights, blondes and for some unfathomable reason, school. He'd be nineteen soon, same as me, and he was still a junior. He just went to school for kicks, he never learned anything. Two-Bit was my best friend in the whole world and had been since before we could even walk. We were practically inseparable and we told each other everything. Two-Bit and I were always getting into trouble, mostly for something to do. He taught me to shoplift when we were little kids and we have been quite the team ever since. I looked up to Two-Bit. He was tough and even though he was still a junior, he was smart. When Two-Bit talked, I listened. Two-Bit lived with his mother, step father and little sister a few blocks from us. His step father wasn't the nicest of guys and since we were little, whenever Two-Bit needed to get away from his house, he would go up the big oak tree in our backyard, up to the attic where my room was, climb through the window and sleep in my room, either on the floor, or the old sofa up against the wall. My parents never said anything about it, but it used to bug Darry something awful, but he got over it after awhile. At almost nineteen years old, my parents gone and the front door always unlocked, in the middle of the night Two-Bit would still climb up the old oak tree-he said it was because he didn't want to mess around with Fate. Two-Bit liked to adopt my superstitions and all the crazy things that I picked up on from my mother.

Johnny Cade was lagging behind Two-Bit, shuffling his feet. If you can picture a little dark puppy that has been kicked too many times and is lost in a crowd of strangers, you'd have Johnny. He was the youngest, next to Ponyboy, but smaller than the rest of the boys, with a slight build. Johnny was sixteen and him and Ponyboy were best friends. He had big black eyes in a dark tanned face, his hair was jet black, heavily greased and combed to the side, but it was so long that it fell in shaggy bangs across his forehead. He had a nervous, suspicious look in his eyes that had only gotten worse since he had been jumped by Socs a few weeks back. He was the gang's pet, everyone's kid brother. His father was always beating him up and his mother ignored him, except when she was pissed off about something and then you could hear her yelling at him clear down to our house. I think he hated that worse than getting whipped. He would have run away a million times if we hadn't been around. Most mornings we would wake up to find Johnny asleep on our sofa—Steve once joked that Johnny should try to beat Two-Bit over to our house at night to secure a spot in my room. I thought Johnny would die he turned so red. But we all loved Johnny, if it hadn't been for the gang, Johnny would never have known what love and affection was.

Walking beside Johnny was Dallas Winston—Dally, must have joined the rest of the gang when they were chasing the Socs, because he hadn't been at the house earlier. I was surprised to see him, as he was supposed to be in jail. Dallas had just turned twenty. He had dropped out of school years earlier and rode bulls in local rodeos, making just enough money to get by. Anything else he needed, he borrowed or stole. His father lived a few blocks from our house, but Dallas had a room at Buck Merrill's place, because he couldn't stand to even be in the same room as his old man. Dallas was born in New York and had moved to Tulsa when he was eleven to live with his father, after his mother died. The first time I met Dallas was on the playground outside the elementary school on a hot July day, the summer he moved to Tulsa. He had bet me fifteen cents that I couldn't make it all the way across the monkey bars without falling. Never one to pass up a bet, I proved him wrong, when I not only made it across without falling, but did it faster than him. Two-Bit always laughed hysterically when he told that story, because as he said, "I knew Kat could do it, she could do it better than any boys our age, but it was fun to watch her whoop Dally's ass." Dally had an elfish face, with high cheekbones and a pointed chin, small, sharp animal teeth and ears like a lynx. His hair was almost white it was so blond, and he didn't like haircuts, or hair oil either, so it fells over his forehead in wisps and kicked out in the back in tufts and curls behind his ears and along the nape of his neck. His eyes were blue, blazing ice cold with a hatred of the whole world. He was tougher than the rest of the gang—tougher, colder, and meaner. The shade of difference that separated a greaser from a hood wasn't present in Dally. He was as wild as the boys in the downtown outfits, like Tim Shepard's gang. He had quite a reputation. He got drunk, rode in rodeos, lied, cheated, stole, rolled drunks—he did it all and had been arrested more than a few times. After that first day on the playground when I was ten and he was eleven, we were friends—as much as anyone could be friends with Dallas Winston. He respected me, and I respected him, he looked out for me and I _tried_ to look out for him. Four days shy of my fourteenth birthday, when Dally had just turned fifteen, we slept together. It was my first time, but not Dally's—he had been real gentle, almost sweet. We never dated, and we had both had our fair share of the opposite sex, but somehow there was always something there between us. When Darry found out about Dally and me when we were younger he'd gotten so mad I thought he was going to kill Dally-but Dally hadn't cared, he didn't care what anyone thought about him. Dally and Darrel were the same age and they got along fairly well most of the time, they respected each other and always looked out for one another. Anytime I needed anything I went to Dally—even before I went to Darry or Two-Bit. Anytime I was in trouble, I went to Dally—although, if I was getting into trouble chances are he was right beside me. Ponyboy said the only reason I ever got into trouble was because of Dally and Two-Bit, and he was probably right. I had been shoplifting and getting drunk since I was kid-it drove my parents crazy, but I didn't care. My dad had always laughed and said it was pretty funny that out of all his kids it was his daughter that was getting brought home by the fuzz. My mom hadn't thought it was so funny. I'd been arrested a few times, but had never done any serious time in juvenile hall or jail, not because I hadn't deserved to, but because Dally and Two-Bit were always covering for me and getting me off the hook. Dally was hard to read though, he never got attached to anything and although I went to him when I need help, he never came to me—he never relied on anyone. There was only one thing in life he actually seemed to care about and that was Johnny.

I was the only girl there. Katrina Louise Curtis—Kat. I was turning nineteen in a few weeks. I had graduated from high school in the spring—much to everyone's surprise—and was working as a waitress in Mel's Diner. I was a little bit on the wild side-although you'd never have known it by looking at me. I was pretty tall for a girl, and I had hair that was dark brown and green eyes, just like Ponyboy. Everyone said I looked just like my mom did, which pleased me just fine. My mother hadn't been strikingly beautiful or anything, but she had a pretty smile and bright cheerful eyes. I preferred jeans and t-shirts to skirts, mostly because I was tall and I thought wearing skirts made me look like a flamingo. I was tough—just as tough as my brothers and the rest of the gang, excluding Dally of course. We had to be tough in our neighborhood. Two of my most prized possessions were my black leather jacket that Dally swiped off some guy a few years back, it was too big for me but I liked it anyway, that and my green handled switchblade that I had taken to carrying after Johnny had been beaten up so badly. It was either in my back pocket or stuck in one of my cowboy boots. Underneath the easygoing, tough girl attitude I was pretty anxious. I always tried not to let things bother me. I tried to let things slide off of me like Two-Bit, or think them through logically like Darry, but I could work myself into quite the tizzy sometimes. My other prized possession was my guitar. My dad had played the guitar and because none of my brothers were interested in music, dad had taught me. Mom also taught me to play the piano, but I didn't think it was as much fun as the guitar. Dad had been a good guitar player and I had learned quickly and I was pretty good at it. Sometimes I liked to just sit by myself strumming the guitar and making up songs. I'd also been playing the piano more now than ever before. I think it was my own way of remembering my mom.

Growing up around my three brothers and their friends I had learned quickly how to stick up for myself. And because of our neighborhood and the things that went on there I had to learn to defend myself. Darry had taught me to fight at a young age and I had the attitude to do it. I had been on the swim team all through high school, which helped me get pretty strong. I couldn't say that I really liked the swim team that much, but mom insisted, because she thought it might be my opportunity to get a scholarship to college-and even though I knew I didn't want to go to college I stayed on the swim team because it kept mom from getting too mad about all the trouble I got into and because the teachers were a little easier on the athletes at my school—anything to make school easier.

Like I mentioned before Darry was the responsible one. When mom and dad died he got custody of Sodapop and Ponyboy. Not me because I was already eighteen, and legally could take care of myself. But Darry and I agreed that instead of me going to San Francisco to bum around like I had wanted to after graduation, I would get a full time job and stick around Tulsa to help out. Sodapop also got a full time job—it almost killed Ponyboy when Soda decided to drop out of school. But with Darry, Soda and me working full time we were able to make enough to live off of without worrying where the next meal was coming from or how we'd be able to afford the power bill. So Ponyboy and Sodapop had to stay out of trouble or the state could take them and put them in a boy's home, but I was pretty much free to do what I wanted—as long as it didn't piss Darry off too much. Although legally Darry couldn't do anything to stop me from doing what I wanted, he was still my big brother—and he could put me in my place if he wanted to. Darry and I had an agreement that as long as I didn't get into too much trouble, and pulled my weight around the house he wouldn't tell me what to do and I liked it that way.

I watched as the gang surround Ponyboy.

"Didya catch 'em?" Pony asked.

"Nope they got away this time, the dirty bastards," Two-Bit replied cheerfully. He put his arm around my shoulder, "Hey Kitty Kat, what are you up to?"

"Five foot ten, how bout you?" I asked cocking an eyebrow, a trick Two-Bit had taught me.

"Ha, you're funny girl," Two-Bit replied with a grin, "The kid's okay?"

"I'm okay," Ponyboy answered, wiping some blood off his forehead, "I didn't know you were out of the cooler yet, Dally," he added changing the subject.

I looked over at Dally who replied "Good behavior. Got off early," he turned and winked at me. I smirked; it was partly my fault that he had been arrested in the first place. We had been out a couple of nights before with Two-Bit, just wandering around the streets looking for trouble. We had been drinking early in the evening and we were all pretty drunk. As we walked past the grocery store, which had been closed for a couple hours, I decided that I was hungry and told the guys that we should go in to get some Oreos and peanut butter-my favorite snack. Well, Two-Bit had thought that Oreos and peanut butter sounded pretty good, and Dally was up for pretty much anything. So we walked around to the back of the store and found the window above the door open, like it was most nights. Just as Two-Bit and I were helping Dally up to the open window we heard a car on the side of the building. Dally jumped down just in time for us to see the cops pull up. Dally told Two-Bit to get out of there and to make sure I got home all right. Like I said those two are always looking out for me. Two-Bit and I ran off leaving Dally to deal with the cops. I had turned around only once as Two-Bit and I ran off and looked back to see Dally chatting with the police officers, who couldn't arrest him for breaking and entering because they hadn't actually caught us, but Dally being Dally, couldn't help himself and starting mouthing off and got himself hauled in anyway.

Dallas lit a cigarette and handed it to Johnny. Everyone sat down to have a smoke and relax. A smoke always relieved the tension. Ponyboy and I smoked like chimneys—Darry never smoked and Soda hardly ever did, but everyone else lit up and sat peacefully for a few minutes. I watched Ponyboy to make sure he was doing okay. He had stopped trembling and his color was coming back.

Two-Bit cocked an eyebrow. "Nice looking bruise you got there, kid."

Ponyboy looked surprised and touched his cheek wincing slightly. "Really?"

Two-Bit nodded genuinely. "Nice cut too. Makes you look tough." Ponyboy turned to look at me and I nodded in agreement with Two-Bit and gave him a quick wink. "Not bad Pon." I said.

Steve flicked his ashes on the ground near Ponyboy. "What were you doin' walkin' by your lonesome?" Steve had a valid point and I turned to Pony waiting for his answer. It bothered me that he was by himself when it was dark out.

"I was coming home from the movies. I didn't think…" Pony started.

"You don't ever think," Darry broke in….I knew where this was going Darry would lay into him for being out by himself, Ponyboy would get mad and Soda would stick up for him. But Darry had every right to be mad. It was his responsibility to make sure nothing happened to Ponyboy and Soda. Sometimes Ponyboy just didn't realize that Darry was worried about him, not just picking on him. Ah well, let them argue about it, I tried to stay out of their fights. I realized I had been staring off into space when Dally jabbed me in the ribs with his finger.

"What about you Kat," he looked at me questioningly.

"What about me, what?" I asked.

"You wanna go to the Nightly Double tomorrow with me, Pony and Johnnycake?" He asked.

"Nah, we're planning on getting boozed up tomorrow night," Two-Bit answered for me with a grin. "If we don't, we'll walk over and find y'all."I grinned at Two-Bit and Dally shrugged his shoulders.

Steve was looking at Dally funny and asked him, "You break up with Sylvia again?"

I looked down at Dally's hand. His ring was back on his finger—again. "Yeah and this time it's for good. The little broad was two-timin' me while I was in jail."

I grinned in spite of myself. I don't like Sylvia too much, I think she's too loud, wears too much make-up and acts like a little giggling schoolgirl most of the time. But I thought it was funny that her and Dally were always breaking up because _she _was two-timing _him_. Dally wasn't no saint so I thought it was a little amusing.

"What are you laughing about Kat?" Dally asked sneering at me.

"Nuthin'," I replied with a grin, "How was the cooler." I added with a laugh, just to piss him off.

Dally just looked at me with a blank stare—he knew I was just trying to get him riled up and he wasn't going to take the bait. He jumped up and everyone else followed his lead as he headed towards my house.

Two-Bit and I lagged behind the rest of the guys as we headed toward the rundown house.

"You okay Kitty Kat?" Two-Bit looked at me with a frown.

"Yeah I suppose, I'm just worried about Pony is all." Two-Bit looked at me and smiled slightly. He knew I was worried and that worried him, I could almost see the wheels in his head spinning trying to think of ways to cheer me up.

At that moment Johnny popped his head out of the front door and yelled to Two-Bit and I, who were still standing in the front yard. "Y'all want to play poker?"

Two-Bit looked at me and I nodded, "Yeah count us in Johnny."

Two-Bit smiled at me and I wrapped my arms around his neck as he pulled me into a quick hug and whispered into my ear, "Don't worry Kitty Kat, he's okay now." I nodded at him, pulled back from our embrace and headed up the steps of the porch and into the house.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer **– I don't own 'The Outsiders'. Only the original characters

**Chapter 6**

A few rounds of poker later, and me four dollars poorer, I decided to head to bed. Darry had already made Pony go to bed, as the next day was Friday and a school day. Johnny had fallen asleep on the couch, where I assumed he would spend the rest of the night and Dally and Two-Bit had ambled out about an hour before—to find some blondes, as Two-Bit had informed me. I had declined when they invited me to join them. Scoping out blondes wasn't my favorite activity in the world, especially since Dally and Two-Bit had had their fair share to drink already that evening, plus I had to work in the morning and I was trying my hardest not to be late anymore this month. Steve, who had won all my money, and Soda were sitting at the table playing blackjack for nickels. It wasn't a fair game; I knew Soda had some aces tucked into his left sock. Darry was in his room, mom and dad's old room, but the door was open and I could see him sitting on the bed looking at some papers. I walked past the bathroom and stood in his doorway, knocking on the door jam.

"Hey Superman, whatcha got?" I asked as I sat down beside him on the bed.

"Just some house papers I got from the bank yesterday," he replied, handing them to me.

I scanned the papers slowly, not really sure what I was looking for, and not understanding half of what was there. I skimmed down to the bottom of the second page where there was a breakdown of our mortgage payments.

I turned my head to look at Darry, "Wait, if I'm getting this, we only have three more mortgage payments?" I asked, confused about what I had just read.

"That's right, baby sister, in less than three months we own this house, free and clear," Darry said, with a slight grin. I could tell he was happy about the news because I hadn't seen him grin like that in a while. "Mom and dad bought this place twenty two years ago, they were so close," he added looking serious again.

"Wow Darry this is great news, without mortgage payments we'll be a lot better off huh?"

"Sure will Kat, one less bill, and a big one at that," Darry replied. "Might be able to save a bit for once," he added.

"This is great Darry," I threw my arms above my head and jumped up on the bed, jumping a few times and almost hitting my head on the ceiling, "Less bills, less bills," I chanted.

"Calm down Kat, Jesus girl," Darry said looking up at me with a frown and turning quickly to the open door to see if anyone else was listening to our conversation. Darry sure knew how to break up a happy moment. He shut the door and returned to the edge of the bed.

"I want to keep this to ourselves. I was thinking that since our last mortgage payment will be in November we could spend the extra money in December on Christmas—surprise Ponyboy and Soda with something special." Darry said with a twinkle in his eye, his youth shining through for a brief second.

I plopped myself down in the middle of the bed and hugged Darry from behind. "You're somethin' else Darrel Curtis," I said squeezing him tightly, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. That Christmas would be our first without mom and dad and although none of us had mentioned it, we all knew it was going to be a tough time. Even though we had never had a lot of money growing up, our parents had somehow always managed to make Christmas special. With a little extra money come December, Darry and I might be able to pull off something special ourselves.

I headed up to the attic with a silly grin plastered on my face. Thoughts of Pony being jumped were temporarily pushed to the back of my mind as I thought about how great we were going to make Christmas for Ponyboy and Soda. I stripped out of my clothes and threw on a pair of old sweats and one of Darry's old high school football jerseys, dropped onto my bed and crawled under the covers. I was quickly asleep dreaming of Christmas trees and Santa Claus.

-----

I was awakened some hours later when a hand gripped my shoulder and shook me softly. I rolled over to find Soda standing by the edge of the bed with his quilt wrapped around his shoulders.

"Hey Soda, what's the matter?" I asked him sitting up and turning on the lamp on the table beside the bed.

"I dunno," he mumbled, as he placed himself gently on the edge of the bed and looked down at his feet. I knew by the look on his face that he had had a bad dream and couldn't go back to sleep. Ponyboy was always having nightmares and because Soda shared a room with Pony he was always the one to look after him, but every once in a while Soda would have a bad dream, and would come up to my room looking for comfort.

I swung my legs to the side of the bed and placed my feet on the cold wood floor. "Come on Pepsi-Cola," I said as I put my arm around my little brother's shoulder and led him down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Sit," I told Soda as I pointed to a chair at the table. He did as he was told, his quilt still wrapped around him. I looked up at the clock on the wall—2:13 am. I sighed—so much for getting to work on time tomorrow. I went to the fridge, pulled out a jug of milk and a sauce pan from above the stove. I set about making some hot chocolate and then turned and sat in the chair beside Soda. "You wanna talk about it," I asked.

He only shook his head no and I shrugged and got up to finish the hot chocolate.

"Could you make me some cinnamon toast?" Soda asked softly as he looked up from the table. Cinnamon toast was his comfort food, something mom used to make when he had had a bad dream or had an upset stomach or something. I couldn't get over how young he looked sitting there wrapped up in his old blanket looking up at me with his big brown eyes. I nodded in reply and turned back to the kitchen quickly, choking back a sob, hoping Soda hadn't noticed. I wasn't used to doing this sort of stuff, mom had always been trying to teach me to cook and sew, but I had always wanted to go out to play football or hang out with my brothers, I wasn't one for any of that domestic, motherly stuff. Doing it then made me miss my mom and I felt a small ache inside of me.

Five minutes later Soda and I were sitting at the table sipping hot chocolate and eating cinnamon toast when I heard shuffling feet come up behind us. "Cinnamon toast?" I recognized Darry's gruff voice without even turning around.

"You want?" I asked turning to him. I saw a slight glint in his eye as he nodded and took a seat on the other side of Soda. I went back to the stove to put on more toast when I saw Ponyboy, as if on cue, poke his head around the corner. He rubbed his eyes feverishly and yawned. "You want some too, Pon?" I asked him, trying not to laugh. He looked like a five year old standing there looking tired, his hair disheveled from sleeping.

"Umhum," he mumble almost incomprehensibly and slumped into the chair I had just vacated, beside Soda.

Another few minutes later, my brothers and I sat at the table silently eating cinnamon toast and drinking hot chocolate, wrapped up in our own thoughts. I heard Johnny shifting on the couch and I pointed toward the living room .

"We should try not to wake up Johnny," I whispered quietly. My brothers nodded in agreement. Darry left the room silently and returned seconds later with a few more blankets and we all left the kitchen, mugs in hand, through the back door and out to the back porch. Darry and I sat on the porch swing, a quilt tucked around us, Soda sat on the old sofa my father had bought at a rummage sale a few years back, pulling his quilt tighter around him as Ponyboy laid beside him, his head on Soda's lap, Darry's big comforter on top of him.

I took a sip of my hot chocolate and placed the mug on the porch floor. I slowly turned to look at each of my brothers and smiled silently to myself. It had been a long time since we had just sat like this—alone, quiet, just thinking our own thoughts. Usually we had a house full of people and it was anything, but quiet, not that I minded most of the time, but this was nice, peaceful, just us Curtises. It made the ache I had felt earlier for my mother more intense. I felt a single, hot tear slide down my face. Darry turned and wrapped a strong arm around me. I placed my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes, sleep taking over.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer **– I don't own 'The Outsiders'. Only the original characters

**Chapter 7**

"KAT, WAKE UP!!" I opened my eyes, sunshine pouring over me and I blinked quickly trying to place were I was. I was back upstairs in my room in the attic and the sun was shining brightly through the curtains, Darry must have carried me back up, I thought to myself. "Kat, you up?" I heard Pony yell from downstairs.

"YEAH!" I yelled back, rolling over and looking at the clock on the side table—7:30 shit! Quickly I threw off my blankets and pulled myself out of bed. I stood, took one step, hit something hard on the floor and toppled over. I looked up from where I now lay on the floor to find Two-Bit staring at me with a grin on his face.

"Mornin' to you too Kitty Kat," he said with a chuckle. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Shit Two-Bit, what are you doin' right there, I coulda killed myself," I said angrily, pulling myself off the floor. Two-Bit stayed lying on the floor, a few blankets thrown on top of him. I turned and kicked him playfully, "I said what are you doin' right there?"

He looked at me, his eyes dancing, "I dunno really, I came in last night and this is where I landed," he said laughing hysterically.

I rolled my eyes as I looked around for my uniform. "You know," I said, stepping over Two-Bit to get to the dresser, "One of these days you're gonna fall outta that damn tree if you keep climbing it when you're trashed. And don't think I would cry one tear over your sorry butt, Keith Mathews, it would serve you right." This comment only made Two-Bit laugh harder. I ignored him, grabbed my uniform and headed to the stairs hoping the shower wouldn't be occupied when I got to the bathroom.

"Get a job!" I yelled over my shoulder to Two-Bit as I climbed down the stairs. All I heard was more laughter and I rolled my eyes and grinned.

Sure enough when I got to the bathroom I found the door closed and locked. I could hear the shower running and Soda singing at the top of his lungs. Dammit, I thought, there is no way I am going to make it to work on time now. I threw my clothes on the floor outside the bathroom door and turned toward the living room. The couch was now unoccupied and I figured Johnny had gone home to change before school. Darry was sitting at the table, reading the paper and drinking a coffee. I could hear Ponyboy shuffling around his room. Steve was in the kitchen, but all I could see of him was his legs, as he had his head stuck in the fridge and was whistling as he rummaged around, looking for something good to eat.

I pulled a mug out of the cupboard and poured myself a cup of coffee. Steve stood up and closed the fridge door, "How come there ain't nothin' to eat in this house," he asked grouchily, "How come you don't cook Kat?"

I turned to glare at him and he sneered at me. I heard Darry snort at the table. I turned to him and glared as well, "What's so funny Darrel?" I asked.

He laughed and shook his head, "It would be a miracle if you cooked anything that we could _actually _eat." He said with a laugh. I glared at him again, trying to be mad, but he was right. I didn't like to cook, and when I did try it never turned out right.

"So what if I'm not a good cook," I said as I sat beside Darry and took half the paper from him, "Y'all still love me."

It was Steve's turn to snort at this, "Yeah, but it would be nice if someone around here could cook somethin'. There ain't even any cake today," he said shaking his head dramatically and taking a seat beside me.

"You're free to eat somewhere else Steve-O," I said smacking him on the back of the head. Steve turned to me, a fake look of horror on his face, trying to look hurt. This made Darry snort again and I cracked up.

"What's so funny," Ponyboy asked walking into the kitchen already dressed and ready for school.

"Steve-O here doesn't like the service at Chez Curtis," I said with a laugh.

"Say, what?" Sodapop came into the kitchen, a towel wrapped around his waist, dripping water on the floor.

"Steve doesn't like the food available at _Chez_ Curtis," I said with a grin as I headed to the bathroom. As I walked away I heard Soda tell Steve that he would be happy to make him some red eggs. This only caused Steve to groan some more. I laughed as I went into the bathroom and closed the door. Steve didn't appreciate Soda's love of putting food coloring in all of his food. I thought it was funny.

I quickly shed my clothes and turned on the shower. I stepped over the edge of the tub and under the flowing water savoring the quiet, alone time.

Five minutes later I was out of the shower, standing in front of the mirror, towel wrapped around me, my hair dripping down my back, brushing my teeth when Darry started banging on the door.

"Kat, open up! I gotta brush my teeth too," he said banging his fist against the door again. I rolled my eyes, 'Can't even have the bathroom to myself,' I thought with a sigh.

Still brushing my teeth I unlocked the door with my free hand. Darry came in leaving the door open behind him, grabbed his toothbrush from the counter taking a place behind me and started brushing his teeth. A few seconds later Soda walked into the bathroom as well, pushed me so that I was standing up against the wall near the toilet and began greasing his hair. I elbowed him in the side, forcing him to move so I could spit in the sink.

"Well, isn't that sweet, Curtis' sharing the bathroom," I heard Two-Bit's voice and turned to look through the open doorway. He was standing in the middle of the living room looking in at us with a goofy grin on his face.

"Shut up Two-Bit," Darry said as he finished brushing his teeth, fixed his hair in the mirror and walked out of the bathroom. Two-Bit only laughed and sat down on the couch to watch TV.

"You know that you two have to be dressed to go to work , right?" Ponyboy said coming around the corner from the kitchen and looking in the bathroom at me and Soda, both still wearing only towels.

"No way Pon," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes, "If Soda here would stop playing with his hair and get lost, I might be able to finish getting ready," I said turning to glare at Soda.

"Sorry sis," Soda said with a grin, took one last look at himself in the mirror, slicked his hand through his hair and walked out of the bathroom towards his and Pony's bedroom. With the bathroom finally to myself again I went to grab my uniform from where I had left it sitting on the floor outside the bathroom door. My bra and underwear along with my black skirt, white blouse, and shoes were still sitting there but my white apron was no longer on the pile. I went backing into the bathroom, closed the door and quickly threw my clothes on and pulled my still wet hair into a ponytail.

"Hey Dar, you seen my apron?" I asked as I walked past his room.

"Yeah," he said looking up from where he was sitting on the edge of the bed, tying his work boots, "I think Two-Bit's got it."

"Ah man," I said rolling my eyes, leaving the hallway to find Two-Bit. I found him in the living room, tackling Ponyboy to the ground, wearing my apron as a cape.

"Say uncle," Two-Bit growled into Pony's ear. He had grabbed Pony from behind and had one arm wrapped around his neck, the other was holding one of Pony's arms behind his back.

"Never," replied Pony, gasping for air and swinging his free arm around wildly.

"Say it," Two-Bit said again tightening his grip around Pony's neck.

"You better let him go Keith Mathews, and give me my apron back before I break your nose," I threatened Two-Bit. He looked up from the floor with a grin and punched Pony playfully in the side.

"You need your big sister to help ya huh Ponyboy?" he said with a laugh.

"Ah let me go, Two-Bit I gotta go to school," Pony said angrily.

"Fine, you're too easy to beat anyway," Two-Bit said with a laugh, releasing Pony from his grip.

Just then the front door swung open and Johnny walked in holding his school bag.

"Morning Johnny," Darry said as he walked in the room, with Soda and Steve following, Johnny gave Darry a slight nod in acknowledgement.

I gave Johnny a small smile, as he stood by the door waiting for Pony and turned back to Two-Bit.

"Give me my apron Two-Bit _now_," I said seriously, glaring at him.

"Nah," shrugged Two-Bit as he jumped up on the couch and flexed his arms "I'm Superman!" he said with a laugh. Soda, Steve, Pony and Johnny started laughing and Darry rolled his eyes.

"I gotta get goin' to work, see y'all tonight, Ponyboy you better get going or you're gonna be late for school," Darry said, as he grabbed his truck keys off the coffee table and shook his head at Two-Bit who was jumping from the couch to the arm chair and back again.

"Yeah, let's go Pony," Johnny said quietly.

"I'll give you two a ride," Steve said to Pony and Johnny, "We just gotta drop Soda off at work first. Two-Bit you comin' to school?"

"Not now I'll catch up to y'all later," Two-Bit said still jumping around like a crazy person.

With that my brothers, Steve and Johnny were gone, leaving me to deal with Two-Bit.

"Come on Two-Bit, I'm gonna be late for work again." I whined, as Two-Bit kept jumping around, shouting 'I'm Superman…to the RESCUE!' I refused to chase him, so I went and sat at the table and finished my now cold cup of coffee that I had poured earlier.

After ten minutes, Two-Bit finally got tired, untied the apron from around his neck and handed it to me.

"Come on Kitty Kat, I'll drive ya to work," he said with a grin.

"I don't know why I put up with your shit Keith Mathews," I said as we walked out the front door towards Two-Bit's car.

"Cuz you'd have a sad, boring life if it wasn't for me Katrina Curtis," Two-Bit said with a grin.

"Oh that's _right_," I said with a laugh not being able to stay mad at him for long. We both jumped in his car and drove away from the house.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer **– I don't own 'The Outsiders'. Only the original characters

**Chapter 8**

Six hours later I was itching to get off work. It had been a busy day at the diner, plus Cynthia one of the other waitresses was still pissed off at me for being late. When I had finally showed up at 8:30 a half hour late Cynthia had given me a dirty look and had barely talked to me all day except to grumble occasionally about having to "Cover my ass", "Deal with the breakfast crowd alone _again_" and about me being a "lazy kid with no work ethic". Add this to the fact that we had been extremely busy, and I had made really crappy tips all day, made my shift go by slower than usual.

Finally, at five minutes to four o'clock I went behind the diner counter through the swinging door and into the kitchen to punch out my time sheet, Cynthia was right behind me.

"Where do ya think you're going Kat?" Cynthia asked grouchily.

"It's almost four, I'm off at four," I said turning to her and shrugged my shoulders.

"You were a half hour late, you gotta stay and make up for your lost time." Cynthia said with a sneer.

"Like hell," I said glaring at her. I was getting angry, I'd put up with her bitching at me all day, and I wasn't about to stay late just to stay on her good side. "I told you Cynth, it wasn't my fault I was late, my house was crazy this morning, I tried I really did," I said trying not to let my anger show through.

"Whatever Katrina, I'm sick of your excuses. Next time you're late I'm telling Mel," Cynthia threatened.

"Ah come on Cynthia, how many times have I covered for you huh? Anytime Sally is sick or you gotta go bail Chris outta whatever trouble it is he got himself into, so don't give me that crap." I was starting to yell now and Kevin and Tyler the cooks had turned to look at us and Sarah and Heather two of the other waitresses had come through the swinging door from the front of the restaurant to see what all the noise was about.

Normally Cynthia and I got along pretty well, she was only a few years older than me, maybe twenty two or twenty three, she was a pretty girl with long blonde hair, green eyes and a bright cheerful face, she had a seven year old daughter named Sally and was married to a man named, Chris who worked over at the steel mill. He was a pretty good guy, but liked to drink and was always getting himself arrested for doing stupid stuff with his buddies after having a few too many at the bar. Cynthia had been working at Mel's for almost four years, and had trained me when I had started a few months ago. Like I said we normally get along pretty well and my being late for work was never usually a big deal to her, so I was pissed off because I didn't know why she was so upset.

"What the hell is your problem anyway Cynthia, you've been on my ass all day, and I know it's not because I was late, so tell me what's really going on or get the hell outta my way so I can go home," I was yelling now and Heather and Sarah were exchanging worried glances.

"I'm pissed off because you're being a lazy brat and expecting everyone else around here to cover for you," Cynthia yelled right back.

"Now come on you two just calm down, we all look out for each other, no harm done, Cynthia, just let it go alright?" Sarah placed a hand on Cynthia's shoulder.

"Yeah Cynthia let's just drop it," I said taking a deep breath and trying to relax.

Cynthia glared at me one last time, "Fine whatever, I'm going home," with that she turned and stormed out of the kitchen.

Kevin and Tyler went back to work and Heather went back to the front of the restaurant.

I sighed deeply and turned to face Sarah, "I don't know what her problem is, I swear I tried to be here on time," I said trying to defend myself.

Sarah gave me a warm smile and patted me on the shoulder, "Don't worry about it too much kiddo, I think something's been botherin' her and she took it out on you, I'm sure it's nothing'."

I smiled back at Sarah. She was nice woman. She had four children who were all grown and lived outside of Oklahoma so she rarely got to see them or her grandchildren. She was in her early sixties and was fairly short with thick salt and pepper hair; she was plump with a big smile and rosy cheeks. Her husband Tom had been a lawyer, but had retired a few years ago and was now working part time at the hardware store a few blocks away. She had told me that they were too young to sit around all day and that they both liked to work. I didn't really understand that, I thought it would be fantastic not to work if you didn't have to. Sarah had laughed when I told her that and had said that working in the diner and being around people, kept her young. She had worked at Mel's for almost twenty years and she knew almost every customer that came in, young and old alike. Everyone liked her, and she liked everybody.

She pulled me into a warm hug and patted me on the back. "Now you skedaddle and enjoy your evening. You got big plans with your friends?" she asked.

"Nah nuthin big, just bummin' around," I said with a grin trying to forget about Cynthia.

She smiled at me brightly and her eyes sparkled, "You try to stay outta trouble, ya hear? And tell your handsome brothers I say hello." She said with a wink.

"I'll try to stay outta trouble Sarah, but I can't promise anything you know!" I said with a laugh as I walked out of the kitchen.

I turned to look around the diner as I headed to the door. It was a pretty decent place in a pretty decent neighborhood, not in the fancy Soc side of town, but downtown in the middle class area were most of the businesses and restaurants were. It was owned by a guy named Mel (go figure) who was in his mid fifties, he was an okay guy, kind of weird, but easy to work for. The diner itself was fairly large with a counter on one side that you could sit and eat at and booths and tables scattered around the rest of the place. Along the back wall was a jukebox and a couple of pool tables, but they were rarely used. We mostly served local folks who lived or worked in the neighborhood and had regular customers who come in everyday for breakfast or lunch, or both. When school let out and in the evenings some kids came around, but it was mostly a place for working people and families, not much of a hangout for kids and teenagers. There were big picture windows in the front facing the street. It was a pretty busy street that was lined with small businesses, a bank, regular kind of stuff. There were about ten of us that worked there and everyone was pretty nice. I'd been here the least amount of time so I didn't know everyone real well yet, but so far they'd been real friendly and nice. Like I said before, we covered for each other if someone was late or had to leave for some reason. I complained a lot about having to work, but all things considering it was a pretty relaxed, easygoing place to work.

I waved goodbye to Heather on my way out and she gave me a nod in return as I headed out the door. I stopped on the sidewalk outside the diner and took a deep breath breathing in the fresh air. It felt good to be outside in the sun after being cooped up all day in the hot diner. I looked up and down the street to see if anything exciting was happening, but I found nothing that interested me. I looked down at my watch 4:17. It was pretty early, Soda and Darry would still be at work and I knew Ponyboy had a track practice after school. I didn't really want to go home to an empty house so I turned to my left and started walking in the direction of the DX.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer **– I don't own 'The Outsiders'. Only the original characters

**Chapter 9**

"Hey Soda, looky who it is. Your big sis," Steve yelled into the store of the gas station as a I strolled up to the DX a few minutes later, "How's it goin' Kat?" he asked with a devilish grin as he finished filling a car with gas. He took the money from the man in the car and headed into the store. I gave Steve a smile and followed him inside. Inside we found Soda perched on the counter talking to three pretty girls who were giggling and flirting with Soda like he was the only man left on earth.

"Hey Kat," Soda said with a wide grin as we walked in. I could tell that he was enjoying himself, being surround by pretty girls who were only interested in one thing, him.

"Hey Sodapop. Hello ladies," I turned to smile at the girls, and they all blushed and giggled some more. I turned to Steve and rolled my eyes and we both started to laugh.

"You wanna work on the jeep for a bit Kat?" Steve asked as Soda and the group of girls went back to laughing and flirting.

"Yeah sure, you got something I could put on though?" I replied looking down at myself in my black skirt and white blouse from work, my apron was shoved in my big bag that was draped over my shoulder.

"Yeah there's some old coveralls in the back," Steve said and he turned to Soda, "Hey Soda, me and Kat are gonna work on the jeep for a bit, can you keep an eye on the front?"

Soda just nodded in reply not taking his eyes of the girls. I had to laugh again. Soda was something else; he was making all three of those girls feel like they were the only ones in the room. I followed Steve into the garage still shaking my head, Steve turned and threw a pair of grey coveralls at me that were stained with grease and about two sizes to big for me. He pointed toward the office, "You can change in there." I nodded and went into the office, emerging a few minutes later feeling like an idiot.

"That's a nice look Kat," Steve said with a laugh as I tried to roll up the much too long sleeves.

He had already started tinkering around with my dad's old jeep that we were keeping parked in the garage while we worked on it. My dad had bought it a few months before he died off of this old guy who lives down the street from us. Dad had said he was going to fix it up and give it to me as a graduation present, just like he had fixed up Darry's old Ford and given it to him when he'd graduated. Unfortunately he never got the chance to do much more than haul it into the backyard, where it had sat until a few months ago when Steve had offered to help me fix it up. I had to laugh at my own thoughts, yeah Steve was really helping me fix it up, more like he was doing all the work and I was watching. I had to admit he was trying his best to teach me and show me how to do stuff myself. Most of the time it was easier if he just did everything himself because it took me so long and he usually ended up doing it again afterwards. It was nice though that he was trying to teach me. I knew he got frustrated with me sometimes, but he tried real hard not to let his temper get the best of him. After working on the jeep for the last few months Steve finally had it running and the inside was pretty much done, with new seats, and interior and stuff. Steve said that he still needed to do some stuff to the brakes and few other things that were beyond my comprehension. All I knew was that with the new seats and new front windshield it was starting to actually look like a vehicle. I was lucky that Steve knew so much about cars and could use the tools in the garage. Plus he knew a few places where he could get parts cheap. Anything else he needed he lifted off cars around town. If it weren't for Steve I'd never have been able to afford to fix the jeep up. I was gonna owe him. Steve said another two or three weeks and she'd be all mine.

-----

"Hey you guys, lets get outta here," Soda said walking into the back of the garage about an hour and half later. I was sitting on the ground beside Steve, who was lying underneath the jeep doing something, although I'm not sure what. My job was to hand Steve whatever tool it was he asked for. I was glad to see Soda, as I was getting bored, but didn't want to bother Steve who seemed to be concentrating real hard on what he was doing.

"Hey Soda, you think I should give the jeep a name?" I asked as I stood up and wiped the dirt of my hands. Steve slid out from under the jeep and sat up.

"Yeah I think you should call him Sodapop after your favorite brother" Soda replied with a laugh.

"Well I don't think _she _would like that name too much. And I don't think Pony and Darry, my _actual_ favorite brothers would either," I said with a laugh shaking my head at Soda.

"Every good car has a name though Kat, you gotta think of something real special for _her_," Steve said as he stood and punched Soda in the stomach, "and I _don't _think it should be Sodapop either," he added as he and Soda began wrestling around. I laughed at the two of them who continued to wrestle as we gathered our things and headed out of the DX station and began walking home.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer **– I don't own 'The Outsiders'. Only the original characters

**Chapter 10**

"Well now don't you look sexy Kitty Kat," Two-Bit raised his eyebrows at me as Steve, Soda and I walked into the house about twenty minutes later. I looked down at the coveralls that I was still wearing and then looked back up at Two-Bit.

"You don't like it?" I asked him with a laugh as I sat down on the couch beside him and ruffled his hair.

"Hey, watch the hair missy," he said slapping my hands away, "What's with the garbage man suit anyway?"

"Ah, I was trying to help Steve work on the jeep," I said shrugging my shoulders.

"Yup, we should have her done pretty soon now," Steve said sitting down on the armchair by the door.

"Hey guys, how was work?" Darry asked as he walked in to the living room from the kitchen, still wearing his work clothes.

"Pretty good Darry. Not too busy, lotsa pretty girls around," Soda said with a big grin, looking up from where he was sitting in Darry's chair.

"Well that's good little buddy, but did you actually do any work?" Darry said with a laugh. Soda just grinned, shrugged and went back to watching TV.

"How bout you Kat, how was work?" Darry said leaning against the doorway.

"Ah it was okay, Cynthia was pretty bitchy to me all day," I said with a sigh, not really wanting to talk about it, "Steve and I worked on the jeep though," I added.

"Yup should be good to go in a couple weeks," Steve added.

"That's great," Darry said. Steve and Darry continued talking about the jeep and Soda and Two-bit continued watching TV as I got up from the couch and wandered into the kitchen. There were two pots cooking on the stove. I took the lid off the first to find spaghetti noodles boiling and in the other Darry's infamous spaghetti sauce bubbling. I took a big breath, smelling the sauce and smiled. I loved Darry's spaghetti, it was one of my favorite meals.

"Hey Darry, where's Ponyboy," I yelled into the living room.

"Him and Johnny went with Dally to the movies about an hour ago," Darry said walking up behind me.

"Oh yeah I forgot," I said propping myself up against the counter, "Spaghetti smells good," I added.

"Does it ever," Two-Bit said walking in to the kitchen, "When can we eat it?"

"Yeah let's eat, I'm starving," Soda walked in with Steve close behind.

"Well it's ready now," Darry said grabbing some plates from the cupboard and passing them around. We all dished ourselves up some food from the stove and went to sit at the table.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer **– I don't own 'The Outsiders'. Only the original characters

**Chapter 11**

Three hours later Two-Bit and I were walking down Sutton Ave. Well, more like staggering. We had stopped by a party and had had a few too many beers and were now looking for something exciting to do.

"How about we go catch up with the guys at the Nightly Double?" I asked linking my arm with Two-Bit's and swinging around.

"Sounds like a plan, doll face," Two-Bit said with a grin and draped his arm over my shoulder as we walked down the street to the theatre. When we were there we went over to the back fence and climbed over, well Two-Bit climbed and I sorta hoisted myself up and then proceeded to fall off the other side and land on the ground with a thud.

"You gotta learn to hold your liquor, Kat," Two-Bit said with a grin as he stood over me and laughed.

"Ah shut-up and help me," I replied. Two-Bit grabbed me by the elbow and pulled me to my feet. "Let's go find my brother," I said as I wiped the dirt of my jeans that I had changed into earlier. We walked toward the back of the theatre, through the lot filled with cars. We waved hello to the greasers and hoods that we knew, stopping to talk to a few and having a few sips of whatever anyone had. I thought I saw Cynthia and Chris parked near the far side of the lot, but I was still mad at her and didn't bothering going to say hello.

"Hey Curtis, hold up a minute," a deep voice called out to me. Two-Bit and I both turned to see who it was. Standing in front of us was none other than Tim Shepard, leader of the Shepard gang and one of the toughest hoods I knew. Behind him were four or five other guys, all part of the Shepard gang, looking mean and ready for a fight.

"Whada ya want Tim?" Two-Bit said with growl as he placed his arm over my shoulder protectively.

"Ah take it easy Mathew's, I don't want any trouble with you or Kat, I'm lookin' for Dally," Tim said with a smirk as he looked us up and down. I didn't mind Tim much, I tried to stay on his good side, mostly because it was the smart thing to do, and he didn't give me too much trouble. I think he thought it was best not to mess with me for fear of having to deal with Darry. Darry may not be a hood like Tim, but he was tough guy and Tim knew it.

"We haven't seen Dally," Two-Bit answered for both of us, "What do you want with him?" he asked cocking an eyebrow.

"Well someone slashed our car's tires in the Dingo parking lot about an hour ago," Tim said in his low voice, his eyebrows furrowed.

"What's that go to do with Dally?" I asked, knowing full well what it meant.

"Well, Curly says he saw Dally do it," Tim replied, "So I'd like to have a little chat with him," he added with a sneer. The guys standing behind him chuckled knowing what Tim's chat would probably entail .

I sneered back at him "Well, like Two-Bit said, we haven't seen him, Tim," I looked at Two-Bit and gave him a slight nod informing him I was ready to go, "If we see him we'll tell him you're looking for him. Take it easy," I added trying to be nice. I gave him a nod. He nodded back and him and his boys turned and began to walk away. Two-Bit and I turned the opposite direction and began to scan the theatre for Pony and Johnny.

"Well that was a nice visit from Mr. Shepard himself, huh" Two-Bit said with a grin and elbowed me in the side.

"Oh yeah, he's always real pleasant," I said with a laugh and grabbed a cigarette and lighter from my jacket pocket.

"Hey there's Pony and Johnny," Two-bit poked me in the ribs again and pointed toward a set of bleachers near the concession. Sure enough there was my brother and Johnny sitting in the front row. With them were two pretty girls, one with short dark hair the other with long red hair. I recognized the redhead right away as Cherry Valance. I remembered her from school, she was two years younger than me, she was a cheerleader and a Soc. I wondered what Johnny and Ponyboy were doing sitting with her and her friend.

"I wonder what they're doin' with those two broads," Two-Bit said mirroring my thoughts.

"Well how about we go see, shall we?" I said with a laugh as I linked my arm to Two-Bit's again.

Two-Bit grinned, "Let's walk around back and scare 'em." I grinned back and nodded.

We snuck around to the back of the bleachers and climbed down to the front row. Two-Bit turned to me and put his finger to his lips telling me to be quiet. He crept up behind the four of them who were sitting silently watching the movie.

In one fluid movement Two-Bit brought his hands down, one on Pony's shoulder the other on Johnny's, "Okay greaser's, you've had it," he growled in a low, deep voice.

Ponyboy practically jumped outta his seat and I stifled a laugh as he looked timidly over his shoulder. He relaxed when he saw Two-Bit grinning back at him, "Glory, Two-Bit, scare us half to death! Hey Kat," he added as I went and stood beside Two-Bit. I looked at Johnny and immediately felt guilty for having snuck up on them, we should have know better than to scare him like that, he looked white as a ghost.

"Hey Johnny," I said quietly putting my hand gently on his shoulder and giving him a quick smile to apologize.

He turned to look at me and said weakly, "Hey Kat, hey Two-Bit."

Two-Bit messed up his hair, "Sorry kid," he said, "We forgot." He climbed over the chair and plopped down beside the dark haired girl and I walked around and sat beside Pony.

Two-Bit looked the two girls up and down, " Who's this, your great-aunts?" he turned to Johnny with a grin.

"Great-grandmothers, twice removed," Cherry said smoothly. I grinned at that, most Soc girls would be leery of Two-Bit, and me too for that matter, but she didn't seem at all fazed.

I looked back at Two-Bit, who was obviously surprised by her answer because he had cocked one eyebrow up and the other down, I could tell he was going to say something smart, "Shoot, you're ninety-six, if you're a day," he said with a grin.

"I'm a night," the dark haired one said brightly.

Two-Bit stared at her admiringly, "Brother you're a sharp one. Where'd you ever get picked up by a couple of greasy hoods like Pony and Johnny?"

"We really picked them up," the girl said," We're really Arabian slave traders and we're thinking about shanghaiing them. They're worth ten camels apiece at least."

"Five," Two-Bit disagreed, "They don't talk Arabian, I don't think. Say something in Arabian, Johnnycake."

Pony, Cherry and I chuckled at their exchange, "Aw, cut it out!" Johnny broke in, "Dally was bothering them and when he left they wanted us to sit with them to protect them. Against wisecracking greaser like you probably."

I burst out laughing at that and almost fell off my seat. Pony turned and grabbed my arm before I fell and shook his head at me. I turned to Two-Bit and waited for another comment about me holding my liquor, but only saw him grinning at Johnny. Johnny didn't usually get sassy like that. It was usually a miracle if you could get him to talk at all.

"Hey where is Dally anyway?" I turned to ask Pony.

"He went hunting some action—booze or dames or a fight. I hope he doesn't get jailed again. He just got out." He replied with shrug.

"He'll probably find the fight," Two-Bit stated cheerfully and I nodded, "Mr. Timothy Shepard and company are looking for whoever so kindly slashed their car's tires and since Mr. Curly Shepard spotted Dallas doing it…well…does Dally have blade?"

"Not that I know of," Pony said solemnly, "I think he's got a piece of pipe but he busted his blade this morning."

"Good. Tim'll fight fair if Dally don't pull a blade on him. Dally shouldn't have any trouble." Two-Bit replied and I nodded again in agreement.

Cherry and her friend where staring at us, "you don't believe in playing rough or anything, do you?" Cherry asked incredulously.

"A fair fight isn't rough," Two-Bit said, "Blades are rough. So are chains and heaters and pool sticks and rumbles. Skin fighting isn't rough. It blows off steam better than anything. There's nothing wrong with throwing a few punches. Socs are rough. They gang up on one or two or they rumble each other with their social clubs. Us greasers usually stick together, but when we do fight among ourselves, it's a fair fight between two. And Dally deserves whatever he gets, cause slashed tires ain't no joke when you got to work to pay for them. He got spotted, too and that was his fault. Our one rule besides stick together, is don't get caught. He might get beat up, he might not. Either way there's not going to be any blood feud between our outfit and Shepard's . If we needed them tomorrow they'd show. If Tim beats Dally's head in, and then tomorrow asks us for help in a rumble, we'll show. Dally was getting kicks. He got caught. He pays up. No sweat."

I smiled at Two-Bit as he finished his speech, he sure knows how to put things, and he knew what he was talking about too. Cherry didn't seem to see it that way.

"Yeah boy," she said sarcastically, "real simple."

"Sure," her friend said, unconcerned, "if he gets killed or something, you just bury him. No sweat."

"You dig okay, baby" Two-Bit grinned at her and lit a cigarette, "Anyone want a weed?"

Cherry and her friend shook their heads as he offered his cigarettes around. Johnny, Pony and I all reached for one and lit up.

"You're Katrina, right," Cherry said suddenly, turning toward me, "You just graduated in the spring huh?"

"Kat" I said smiling at her slightly, trying my best to be nice. I was surprised she knew who I was. I spent so little time actually going to school and when I had been there we definitely wouldn't have hung around the same places.

"I'm Cherry," she said offering me her hand, "and this is Marcia." She added pointing to her friend.

"I know who you are," I said not offering my hand back, "The ugly one is Two-Bit," I gestured to Two-Bit, who glared at me over the ugly comment, I grinned back. "You're a cheerleader," I added a hint of distaste in my voice.

"That's right," Cherry nodded, either not picking up on the tone of my voice, or choosing to ignore it, "what are doing now that you've graduated, are you going to college?"

Two-Bit snorted at this comment and I laughed out loud. "No! Could you imagine me going to college, it's a damn miracle I graduated at all," I laughed poking Ponyboy in the ribs, he only smiled slightly, "nah, I'm working full time over at Mel's diner."

"Oh yeah, I know the place," Marcia said cheerfully, "downtown, beside Barbara Hall's hair salon."

"Yeah that's the one," I said.

We all sat in silence for a few minutes until Cherry spoke, "Ponyboy, will you come with me to get some popcorn?"

He jumped up from his seat immediately, knocking into me. I looked up and glared at him, but he was too busy looking at Cherry to pay attention to me. I rolled my eyes, first Sodapop, now Ponyboy. My brothers' hormones were getting outta control, I thought with a chuckle.

"Sure. Y'all want some?" Pony turned to us.

"I do," Marcia said.

"Me too," said Two-Bit. He flipped Pony a fifty-cent piece. "Get Johnny and Kitty Kat some, too. I'm buyin'," he added as Johnny started to reach into his jeans pocket.

"Thanks Two-Bit," I said with a smile as I slide over into Cherry's seat beside Johnny. Marcia and Two-Bit were joking around about something and Two-Bit ignored my thanks. I rolled my eyes and turned to Johnny and gave him a smile. He smiled back which made me grin more, it always made me happy when Johnny smiled, which wasn't often enough.

A few minutes later Pony and Cherry returned with our popcorn and Pony sat down beside me with Cherry on his other side. Two-Bit and Marcia continued to goof around for the rest of the movie, but Johnny, me, Pony and Cherry sat quietly watching the movie. Every once in a while I would elbow Pony in the side and make kissing noises and point to Cherry. The first few times he turned red, glared at me, and mouthed for me to shut up, but after a while he just rolled his eyes and ignored me. Soon I got bored and left him alone.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer **– I don't own 'The Outsiders'. Only the original characters

**Chapter 12**

After the movie we all got up to leave and I asked how Cherry and Marcia were going to get home. They informed Two-Bit and I that they had come with their boyfriends but had left them when they had gotten drunk and were acting like idiots. This had made me laugh because Two-Bit and I were both drunk and acting a bit like idiots ourselves, and it didn't seem to bother them any.

After a little discussion and Two-Bit offering to walk the girls the twenty miles back to the west side of town, which I refused to do, and the girls wanting to call their parents and have them pick them up, we decided that we would walk to Two-Bit's house to get his car, so we could drive them home.

As we walked Pony and Cherry chatted about who knows what and Two-Bit and Marcia were off in their own world. Johnny and I walked behind them wrapped up in our own thoughts smoking cigarettes and kicking rocks back and forth. I was wondering if Tim had found Dally, when I heard Marcia gasp, "Cherry, look what's coming."

We all turned to look and saw a blue Mustang coming down the street. Johnny made a small noise in his throat and when I turned to him he was as white as a sheet.

Marcia was shifting nervously, "What are we going to do," she turned to Cherry, her voice pleading.

Cherry was chewing on her fingernails nervously. "Stand here," she said, "There isn't much else was can do."

"Who is it," I asked looking to Cherry.

"The FBI?" Two-Bit asked with a chuckle.

"No," Cherry said miserably, "it's Randy and Bob."

"And," Two-Bit added grimly, " a few other of the socially elite checkered-shirt set."

"Who are Randy and Bob?" I asked turning to Marcia and raising my eyebrows.

"Your boyfriends?" Johnny asked. His voice was steady, but standing right beside him I could tell he was trembling. I looked at him with concern, Johnny was jumpy, but this was ridiculous.

Cherry started walking down the street. "Maybe they won't see us. Act normal."

"Who's acting?" Two-Bit grinned, "I'm a natural normal."

"Wish it was the other way around," Ponyboy muttered under his breath.

"Don't get mouthy, Ponyboy," Two-Bit scowled at him.

I laughed at that, "Ah leave him alone, you're anything but normal Two-Bit," I said punching him playfully in the stomach. He grinned at me and tried to punch me back, but I jumped behind Johnny, using him to block Two-Bit.

The Mustang passed us slowly and went right on by. Marcia sighed in relief, "That was close."

Cherry turned to Ponyboy, "Tell me about your oldest brother. You don't talk much about him." I turned to look at Pony wondering if he had been talking to Cherry about Sodapop and I. I didn't like the idea of Ponyboy talking to Cherry about me or Soda, or Darry for that matter. I looked at him with a scowl

"What's to talk about?" Ponyboy asked with a shrug, "He's big and handsome and likes to play football."

"I mean, what's he like? I feel like I know Soda from the way you talk about him; tell me about Darry." Cherry said. When Pony didn't answer she urged him on, "Is he reckless like Soda? Easygoing like Kat here?," she turned and smiled at me slightly, "Dreamy like you?"

I turned to Pony, interested to hear what he was going to say. His face turned red and he bit his lip. "He's…" he started and then blurted out, "He's not like Kat at all, and he definitely ain't like Sodapop, and he sure ain't like me. He's hard as a rock and about as human. He's got eyes exactly like frozen ice. He thinks I'm a pain in the neck. He likes Soda and Kat—everybody likes Soda and Kat—but he can't stand me. I bet he wishes he could stick me in a home somewhere, he'd do it too, if Kat and Soda'd let him."

I stared at Ponyboy, not believing what I was hearing. I knew he thought Darry was too hard on him, and he was a lot of the time, but I had no idea he felt that way about our older brother and the fact that he said all this in front of Marcia and Cherry, two strangers and Socs at that, made me furious at him. I stared at him, feeling the anger burning inside of me, I clenched my fists and felt Two-Bit place a hand reassuringly on my shoulder.

"No…" Two-Bit said in a calm voice," No, Ponyboy, that ain't right…you got it wrong…"

"Gee," Johnny said softly, "I thought you all got along real well," he said looking at me his eyes wide.

"Well, we don't," Ponyboy snapped at Johnny, "An, you can shut your trap Johnny Cade, cause we all know you ain't wanted at home, either. And you can't blame them."

This set me off, "We do get along fine," I yelled, my voice shaking, "You take it back Ponyboy Michael Curtis, you take it back right now…and don't you go yellin' at Johnny, don't you dare," I began walking toward him staring him directly in the eyes. I clenched my fists harder and reached my arms toward him. I'm not sure what I would have done if Two-Bit hadn't wrapped his strong arms around my waist and pulled me back. Johnny's eyes were wide as he watched Two-Bit let me go and slap Pony hard once across the side of the head.

"Shut your mouth, kid," Two-Bit said to Ponyboy calmly, " If you wasn't Kat's kid brother I'd beat the tar out of you. You know better than to talk to Johnny like that." He put a hand on Johnny's shoulder. "He didn't mean it, Johnny."

"I'm sorry, Johnny," Pony said weakly, "I was just mad." He looked up at me his eyes pleading, "I'm real sorry Kat, I didn't mean it."

My heart ached for him, standing there looking miserable, his feelings mixed up, "I know Pon," I said not being able to stay mad at him. I unclenched my fists, pulling him into a hug and kissing him on the side of the head, my anger melting away. "It's okay kiddo, I know you didn't mean it."

Ponyboy pulled away and looked at Johnny, "I'm real sorry Johnny."

"It's the truth," Johnny said with a bleak grin. "I don't care."

"Shut up talkin' like that," Two-Bit said fiercely, messing up Johnny's hair. "We couldn't get along without you, so you can just shut up!"

"Yeah Johnnycake, don't talk like that," I said pulling him into a quick hug too, "I don't know what we'd do without you." I smiled at him as he pulled away.

"It ain't fair!" Pony cried out, "It ain't fair that we have all the rough breaks!"

I looked at him and saw tears welling in his eyes. I sighed heavily, placed my arm on his shoulder and pulled him against me, trying to comfort him. He'd been through so much in the last year, we both had, and he was right, it wasn't fair.

"I know," Two-Bit said with a good-natured grin, "the chips are always down when it's our turn, but that's the way things are. Like it or lump it."

Cherry and Marcia hadn't said anything through this entire episode. They were standing a few feet away from us watching with their eyes wide. I could tell they didn't know what to say and I was embarrassed for Pony who turned red as he looked at them. I knew it was hard enough for him saying what he had in front of Johnny and Two-Bit, but to have these two, pretty Soc girls there made him completely embarrassed. I was about to say something to break the tension when I saw the blue Mustang was coming down the street again. The others noticed as well.

"Well," Cherry said resignedly, "they've spotted us."

The Mustang came to a stop beside us, and the two boys from the front seat got out. They were Socs through and through. They were dressed in khaki pants and nice shirts. I looked into the car and saw a few more guys in the back seat. I looked from Johnny to Pony to Two-Bit. Johnny had tensed up again. Pony had stuffed his hands into his pockets and put a scowl on his face. Two-Bit flipped up the collar of his leather jacket and lit a cigarette. I swallowed hard and shoved my hand in my back jeans pocket, letting my fingers grip my switchblade. The Socs didn't even seem to see us.

"Cherry, Marcia, listen to us…" the handsome black haired Soc began.

Johnny had come up to stand beside me. I could see he was breathing heavily and I noticed he was staring at the Soc's hand. I turned to look at Pony and saw him staring at Johnny as well. I looked back to the Soc's hand and saw he was wearing three heavy rings. My thoughts quickly went back to a few months earlier when we had found Johnny in the vacant lot severely beaten. He had said some Socs in a blue Mustang had followed him and that his face was ripped up by a guy wearing rings…

The Soc's voice broke into my thoughts, "….just because we got a little drunk last time…"

Cherry looked mad, "A little? You call reeling and passing out in the streets _a little_?" Bob, I told you, I'm never going out with you while you're drinking, and I mean it. Too many things could happen while you're drunk. It's me or the booze."

I was impressed by what she said. She was tougher than I thought and I felt sorry for having been rude to her earlier. It took a tough broad to stand up to a guy like that.

The other Soc, a tall guy, turned to Marci. "Baby, you know we don't get drunk very often…" When she gave him a cold stare, he got angry. "And even if you are mad at us that's no reason to go walking the streets with these bums."

I saw Pony stiffen, Johnny slouched and hooked his thumbs in his pockets. Two-Bit took a long drag on his cigarette staying completely calm, I took Two-Bit's lead and took a deep breath trying to stay calm, my fingers still gripping my switchblade. I hated that Soc for what he had just said. We may be poor and didn't drive nice cars or wear fancy clothes, but it's not like it was our choice. And even if we were from the wrong side of town, it didn't mean we were bums. I looked again at my brother, Johnny and Two-Bit. They could look meaner than anything when they wanted to. Two-Bit put his elbow on Johnny's shoulder. "Who you callin' bums?" he growled.

The handsome looking one stared back at Two-Bit, "Look greaser, we got four more of us in the back seat…"

"Then pity the back seat," Two-Bit yelled up to the sky. Man, Two-Bit was asking for it. I silently willed for him to shut his mouth. There were four of us and six of them-I'm a pretty good fighter and Johnny and Pony could both throw a mean punch, but from the size of those two Socs and from what I could see in the back seat, six would be a lot to handle.

"If you're looking for a fight…" the Soc continued.

Two-Bit cocked an eyebrow making him look even tougher and more in control. "You mean if I'm looking for a good jumping, you outnumber us, so you'll give it to us? Well…." he snatched up an empty bottle from the ground, busted off the end and gave it to Pony, then reached in his back pocket and flipped out his switchblade. 'Ah jeez, here we go,' I thought to myself as I flipped out my switchblade and took a stance beside Two-Bit. I hoped to hell he knew what he was doing. "Try it pal," Two-Bit growled.

"No!" Cherry cried. "Stop it!" She looked at the soc. "We'll ride home with you. Just wait a minute.

"Why?" Two-Bit demanded. "We ain't scared of them." He turned to me with a bemused look on his face. I just shrugged my shoulders. After what Cherry had said to her boyfriend, I was surprised that she would agree to go with him. Two-Bit and I both looked at her questioningly.

Cherry shuddered, "I can't stand fights…I can't stand them…" I stared at her in disbelief. Did she think I would have enjoyed getting the tar beaten out of me?

Ponyboy pulled her off to one side and threw the broken bottle on the ground. I couldn't make out what they were saying and I turned back to Two-Bit and Johnny. The three of us stood strong in front of the Socs as Marcia turned to us.

"I'm real sorry about this," she said softly, "I had a real nice time with y'all, but we better go." She began walking to the car turning once and waving at us slightly.

Cherry quickly turned and joined her friend and they both jumped into the car and it zoomed off.

I flicked my switchblade closed and put it back in my pocket. I turned to Johnny and smiled at him hoping to calm his nerves a bit. Two-Bit put his switchblade away as Pony walked back to us. We continued our walk home in silence. When we reached the vacant lot we sat on the curb. I lit a smoke and passed the package to Pony who offered one to Johnny and Two-Bit.

"Well, those were two good-lookin' girls if I ever saw any." Two-Bit yawned. I rolled my eyes. Again with the hormones, I thought with a silent laugh. He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and tore it up.

"What was that?" Pony asked.

"Marcia's number. Probably a phony one, too. I must have been outta my mind to ask for it. I think I'm a little soused."

I laughed and he turned to me grinning, "What's so funny Kitty Kat?"

"Nuthin'," I said with a shrug and grinned back at him. It was still early and my adrenaline was still pumping from before. "You wanna get outta here?" I asked him.

"Sure, y'all going home?" he turned to Johnny and Pony.

"Not right now," Pony answered looking up at the stars.

"I don't know why I handed you that busted bottle," Two-Bit said to him as he got to his feet. "You'd never use it."

"Maybe I would have," he said.

"Ah come on Pon, you wouldn't have," I said slapping him on the back as I stood to join Two-Bit. Ponyboy was too compassionate to ever hurt someone—unless they provoked him, and even then he preferred skin to weapons.

He smiled up at me, "You never know," he said with a smirk, "Where y'all headed?"

"Gonna go play a little snooker and hunt up a poker game. Maybe get rip roarin' drunk. Who knows. See y'all tomorrow," he said hooking his arm to mine, "Lets go Kat."

"Pony, don't stay out here too long," I said looking down at my brother, "It's getting pretty late. Take it easy Johnny," I added.

"I won't. Night Kat," Pony said as he stretched out on his back. Johnny nodded to me in acknowledgement and laid back as well.

Two-Bit and I turned and headed down the street. We had no idea that we wouldn't see Ponyboy or Johnny for five long days.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer **– I don't own 'The Outsiders'. Only the original characters

**Chapter 13**

It was late when I left Two-Bit at Mike's house and began walking home. I'd grown bored sitting around while Two-Bit played poker. I had decided not to play when I saw who was at the table. Those guys were a little out of my league. After a few hours of watching Two-Bit, I decided to head home. I didn't have to work in the morning, but it had been a long day and I was ready to crawl into my nice warm bed.

During a break in their game I walked up and sat beside Two-Bit in a vacant chair, "I'm headin' home Two-Bit," I said with a yawn.

"Already Kat, It's still…early…" he said looking at his watch, seeing the time and giving me a grin.

"Early huh? Try working for a living Two-Bit," I said with a laugh.

He grinned and ignored my comment, "You want me to walk you?"

Mike's house was only about ten blocks from mine, "Nah, I'll be fine," I said. I gave him a quick smile.

"Hey Kat?" Two-Bit turned to me as I stood.

"Yup?" I asked looking down at him.

"Lend me five dollars?" he said cocking an eyebrow.

I cocked an eyebrow right back, "You're kidding right?" I questioned. He only gave me a grin and I knew he wasn't kidding. I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out five one dollar bills, "Here," I said with an overly dramatic sigh, "You owe me Mathews." He smiled at me, took my money and shoved it in his jeans pocket.

"Thanks Kat," he said with a grin.

I turned to leave and yelled over my shoulder, "Get a job!" I heard Two-Bit chuckle and left the room and headed for the front door. The house was still pretty wild, even at almost three-thirty in the morning. I saw a few guys head back in the room I had just left, getting ready for another round of Texas hold 'em-with my money, I thought with a grin. There were people scattered all over the kitchen and living room as I walked to the front door. Some were talking or playing cards, others were dancing or just sitting around listening to music, everyone was drinking and smoking and having a good time. I smiled and waved good bye to a few people I knew and walked out in the street.

The street was quiet and dark, and it was getting chilly. I stopped and zipped up my leather jacket and shoved my hands in the pockets. I started walking down the street toward my house, only stopping once under a street lamp to light a smoke. I was almost home when I saw flashing lights and heard noise coming from the park further down the street. I quickened my pace, wanting to get home. The last thing I wanted was to get in the middle of some fight with a bunch of drunk hoods and the cops, I thought with a sigh. As I passed, I was surprised to see only one cop car and an ambulance parked on the grass in the middle of the park. I could see a few people milling around talking to each other. 'What the hell,' I thought flipping the collar on my jacket and continuing past the park. From where I was on the road I couldn't make out what was going on, but flashing lights on cop cars and ambulances was never a good sign. I just wanted to get home and go to bed. I was sure I'd hear all about some great fight that went on in the park, from some bragging hoods the next day. Stories always spread pretty fast in our neighborhood and everyone liked to brag about a good fight.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N -** Well here's Chapter 14.I have written a few more chapters, but it has taken me an hour to upload this far (Is that normal or is it because I had no clue what I was doing? Ah, it was probably me!!) I obviously know where the storyline is going (as do you, if you read the first few chapters!) But I want to get through the events of the book first. After the rumble we will find out about Johnny being in a wheelchair, what are the new living arrangements the social worker is coming to check on? Where the heck did Emma come from and why does she have to call Kat and Dally mom and dad in front of the social worker??

I would love it if you would review and let me know what you think and if I should keep posting. Thanks!

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer **– I don't own 'The Outsiders'. Only the original characters

**Chapter 14**

I had almost forgotten about the park as I turned the corner onto my street a few minutes later. My heart almost jumped out of my chest as a walked down the street and saw a cop car pull away from my house. All the lights were on in the house and I could see shadows walking around the living room through the closed curtains. As the cop car screeched past me I began to run toward my house. 'This isn't good,' I thought, my heart pounding hard in my chest, 'Please let everyone be okay,' I thought, my insides aching as I thought of my mom and dad and the last time a cop car had been to our house.

It seemed liked forever before I reached the front door, but really it had only been a few seconds. I could hear someone crying as I whipped the front door open.

Darry was pacing the living room floor. He stopped and turned to look at me as I stormed in. His brow was furrowed and his eyes looked to me pleadingly. I turned and saw Soda sitting on the couch, his elbows on his knees, head in his hands sobbing. He barely looked up at me when I came in. I slammed the front door as I walked into the living room.

"Darry?" my voice cracked as I spoke. I knew something was terribly wrong, but I was terrified to ask. I could feel my heart beating harder in my chest. Darry just shook his head at me and looked down at his feet, his shoulders slumped. "Soda?" I pleaded. Soda looked up at me, tears flowing freely from his eyes, his face red and blotchy from crying. I quickly pulled myself to the floor, kneeling in front of him, grabbing his hands into mine. "Sodapop, what….what happened? Are you okay?" I asked pleadingly, my voice cracking again. I looked up into his eyes, not sure if I really wanted to know.

"It's…" he let out a sob, "It's Ponyboy," was all he could get out before he dropped down into the floor beside me. My heart skipped a beat. I pulled Soda into my arms and looked up at Darry, my eyes filled with tears.

"What happened Darry?" I asked, looking up at him with wide eyes. He was looking down at me and Soda, the look in his eyes was heartbreaking. I hadn't seen him look like that since mom and dad died and it scared me. "What happened to Ponyboy?" I asked again, trying to stay calm, but my insides were doing flip flops.

"There…there was fight in the park," Darry started, trying to keep his voice from shaking. He sat down in his chair and leaned forward toward me and Soda. 'The park?' I thought, 'Oh god the park!' I remembered the cop car and the ambulance and tears began to flow freely from my eyes, I pulled Soda away from me and stood up quickly. My legs felt shaky and the room was starting to spin. "Oh god Darry! Ponyboy's dead isn't he?" I looked at Darry and felt my whole body begin to shake. Soda looked up at me from the floor, a puzzled look on his face. Darry stood and pulled me to his chest wrapping his arms around me.

"No Kitty Kat!" his voice was still shaking, "No Kitty Kat. Ponyboy's not dead." He pulled back and put his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes, "There was a fight in the park and…and Johnny killed a Soc. Pony was with him." I looked at Darry with disbelief. Quiet, shy, sweet Johnny? I was shocked, but couldn't make my lips move to say anything. My body began to shake even harder and I felt my knees begin to give away. Darry gently led me to the couch and pushed me to a sitting position. Soda climbed up from the floor and sat beside me putting his arms around my waist and nestling his head on my shoulder. I placed an arm around him and squeezed him gently. 'Ponyboy isn't dead,' I thought, trying to breathe. I looked up at Darry who had begun pacing the floor again.

Soda gently lifted his head and asked softly, "Why'd you think Pony was dead Kat?"

"I…well…" I started, not sure of my own voice, I took a deep breath and wiped the tears from my eyes, "I saw an ambulance in the park on my way home and then Darry said there was fight…."

Soda let out another sob, tightened his grip around my waist and put his head back on my shoulder. I rubbed his back softly and whispered quietly into his ear, "I'm sorry Soda." He didn't look up, just continued to sob quietly.

"Darry?" I looked up at my older brother trying to keep my voice steady, "What was Ponyboy doin' out so late? What the hell happened?"

"Well... he didn't come home until after two o'clock….he said he fell asleep with Johnny in the lot," he paused and looked up at me, sadness in his eyes.

"Yeah…Two-Bit and I left them there after the movie…" I said thinking back to just a few hours ago.

"You saw him?" Darry asked hesitantly. I nodded slightly and shifted under Soda's weight, continuing to rub his back. Darry shook his head miserably and continued, "He came home and I got really mad at him…I…I was yelling and then…I hit him Kat…I hit Ponyboy…" Darry collapsed into his chair and put his head in his hands.

I sat there dumbfounded. I couldn't believe what Darry had just told me. He had hit Ponyboy. Our baby brother. Just a few hours ago I had been trying to convince Ponyboy that Darry didn't hate him and then Darry goes and does something stupid like this. I was furious. I pulled away from Soda and got up from the couch. I stood in the middle of the room and glared at Darry.

"What?" I yelled at him, feeling my face burning and clenching my fists, "Darry! What the hell were you thinking?"

Darry sat in his chair looking up at me, his eyes welling with tears, "I don't know Kat, I was just so angry that he had stayed out so late and…and I was worried cause I couldn't even call the cops…it just happened…I didn't think…"

"You didn't think?" I turned to look at Soda, who was watching both of us with fear in his eyes, "Did you hear that Soda? Darry didn't _think_. He yells at Ponyboy all the time for not using his head! And here he is using his fucking muscles instead of _his_ head!!" Soda continued to stare at me his eyes big, not sure what to say, more tears began to fall down his cheeks.

I turned back to Darry who was sitting in his chair looking up at me helpless and lost. I was so mad, but I didn't know what to do. I wanted to pounce him and hit him and tell him what a stupid, horrible thing he had done. But looking at him sitting there I knew he knew what he had done was wrong and he was sorry. Very sorry.

I was still too angry to talk to him and afraid of what I might do, so I walked out of the living room, through the dining room and into the bathroom. I slammed the door behind me and turned the cold water on. I let the water run for a minute and then leaned over the sink and splashed the icy water on my face trying to calm myself. I stood, turned off the water and sat on the edge of the tub. I tried to process everything that Darry had said, trying to stay calm.

A few minutes later I stood up, my legs still shaky, walked out of the bathroom and back into the living room. Darry was still sitting in his chair, his head down looking at his feet. Soda was curled up in a ball in the corner of the couch, crying and rocking back and forth, ever so slightly.

I walked to the couch pulled Soda up gently, sat down beside him and pulled him down so his head was in my lap. I pulled a knitted blanket off the back of the couch and placed it over him and began to stroke his hair. He stopped shaking, but he was still crying quietly. Darry sat watching me, not saying a word, afraid of what I might say or do to him.

I looked up at him and in a very calm voice said, "So Ponyboy came home and then," I paused, "…you hit him…" I glared at Darry slightly and he grimaced, as if I had slapped him in the face, "and I assume he left?" Darry nodded but said nothing.

Soda sat up and looked at me, "We wanted to go after him Kat, we did…but we decided to let him have time to cool off, you know how Pony is…we just thought we'd give him some time…."

Soda's eyes glistened with tears as he spoke and I kissed him lightly on the forehead. "I know Soda, it's okay," I said in a soft voice, pulling him into a hug. He looked up at me sadly. I gave him a small smile trying to reassure him and he put his head on my shoulder.

I looked back at Darry, "And then what? What happened at the park?"

Darry shook his head and sighed deeply, "I don't know, next thing we know there are cops knocking on the door. They said that there was a fight in the park and that Johnny had killed some kid. They said the other kids who were there saw Ponyboy with Johnny. The Socs left to call the cops, but by the time they got there Ponyboy and Johnny where gone." Darry looked up at me a single tear ran down his face and I felt myself well up, "The cops wanted to know where Ponyboy and Johnny were, but…he never came back….we don't know where he is…"

As Darry finished, I began to cry softly. Soda looked up and seeing me cry made him cry more. Darry stood up from his chair and came to sit beside me on the couch. He wrapped his arms around me in a hug and held me tightly. Soda, still crying, wrapped his arms around my waist and leaned against my back. We sat there for a long time, not saying anything, scared and sad, worrying about our baby brother.

Finally, Soda spoke, "Do you think he's okay?" he looked from me to Darry.

"I'm sure he is Sodapop," I said trying to calm him, "He's probably just really scared is all."

Soda nodded, taking in what I had just said, "You're right, he'll come back as soon as he's calmed down a bit," I looked at him dubiously, "It's gonna be okay," he said, now trying to reassure me. He placed his head back on my shoulder and sighed deeply trying to calm his nerves.

Darry stood up, walked into the kitchen and returned a few minutes later. He handed a glass of milk to Soda who took it and drank it slowly. He handed me a small glass of water and went to sit in his chair

'It's going to take more than a glass of water to calm my nerves, what I need is a smoke,' I thought with a sigh. I brought the glass to my lips and took a small sip. I looked up at Darry my eyes wide as I took a swallow and realized he had handed me a glass of vodka. He nodded his head at me and I smiled back slightly. Darry knew how shaken up I was. I took another swallow and placed the glass on the coffee table.

I leaned my head against the back of the couch and felt myself dropping off to sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N -- **Thank you to those who reviewed; Scarlett7, bookworm2u, kaz456 and a special thanks to sparklegoose for her kind words and encouragement! The next few chapters will deal with what is going on with the rest of the gang while Pony and Johnny are hiding out.

Please read and review-Enjoy!

**Disclaimer-- **I don't own 'The Outsiders'. I only own the original characters.

**Chapter 15**

It was a restless night for all three of us. We all stayed in the living room, silently hoping that Ponyboy would walk through the door at any second. Soda kept calling out for him and waking up in a cold sweat. After the third time, I gave up trying to sleep anymore myself, and went out to sit on the back porch.

My thoughts kept drifting to Ponyboy and Johnny. Where were they? Were they alright? Were they even together? What had happened at the park? This couldn't have been their fault. Johnny would never kill someone. There had to be an explanation.

I thought back to the movie theatre. Was that only a few hours ago? It seemed like days. Johnny had smiled a lot. Ponyboy had barely watched the movie because he was too busy watching Cherry Valance. We'd enjoyed ourselves, we'd goofed around.

I remembered saying good bye to them at the vacant lot. They had been looking up at the stars when we left. Pony loved to look at the stars. I stood up from the porch step and walked into the backyard. I stood in the middle of the yard, with its overgrown grass and weeds and looked up at the stars. Tears were falling from my face, but I wasn't making a sound. I laid down on the ground and stared up at the clear sky. The stars were bright. They seemed to go on forever, covering the sky like a blanket. There was Orion's belt, and the Big Dipper. The Little Dipper. I looked for more constellations that Ponyboy had shown me but I couldn't remember any others.

'Ponyboy you gotta come back and show me the other constellations,' I thought as I wiped tears from my eyes. 'You gotta come back and make supper tomorrow. It's your turn and you promised Soda you'd make macaroni and cheese. You need to come back because we were gonna barbeque hamburgers with the gang on Sunday afternoon and play football.' I felt more tears run down my cheeks, but I didn't make any effort to wipe them away. What was the point?

I laid there for a long time thinking about Ponyboy and Johnny. Soon I grew cold, but I stayed where I was. I couldn't bring myself to go in the house and see Darry and Soda. And not see Ponyboy.

I must have laid there for a few hours because soon the sun began to come up. I watched as a few rays began to peek through the branches of the trees, and then shine faintly above the treetops. The black sky was slowly turning pink. The warmth of the sunlight felt good and I pulled myself into a sitting position and pulled a cigarette out of my jacket pocket. I sat for a few more minutes watching the sun rise fully from behind the trees. The pink sky turning blue. It reminded me of the camping trip my parents had taken us on last summer. They had woken Darry, Soda, Pony and me up and dragged us out of the tent really early. So early that it had still been dark. Dad had sat us all down on the ground and told us to wait. Soon the sun began to rise, like it was now. Ponyboy had been captivated by the beauty of it and it was all he had talked about for days. I smiled, thinking back to that camping trip. My parents had held hands as the sun had come up. They had smiled at each other and laughed, big hearty, full laughs. We had all sat together, watching the sun come up and then spent the day playing games and running in the trees. That was only a little over a year ago. It seemed like so long. It's strange how things can change so quickly. We had been so happy. I couldn't imagine every feeling like that again.

Finally I stood. My legs were stiff and my lower back was sore from laying on the ground. My jeans and the back of my jacket were damp from the morning dew. I shivered, pulled my jacket tighter around me and walked up the porch steps. I paused at the door and took a deep breath before I went back into the house.

Just as I walked through the door the telephone rang and I hurried to the living room to answer it. Darry wasn't in the room and I could here the shower running in the background. Soda was still laying on the couch, a pillow over his head. I couldn't tell if he was asleep or not.

"Hello," I said as I picked up the phone.

"Is this the Curtis residence?" The voice on the other end was deep.

"Yes," I replied, "Who is this?"

"Your brother is going to pay for what he did to my friend."

My eyes went wide, "Who is this?!?" I yelled into the receiver. Soda sat up quickly and looked at me with worry in his eyes. "I said who is this?!?!" I yelled again. There was no answer and the phone went dead. I hung up the receiver, trying to stop my hands from shaking. Soda was now standing beside me, his hand on my shoulder.

"Kat, who was that?" he asked. His voice cracked slightly.

"Nobody Soda, it was a wrong number. Don't worry about it." I said sharply, my hands still shaking.

"Come on Kat! I know it wasn't a wrong number. Who was it!?!" Soda exclaimed, not taking no for an answer, "Come on Kat, tell me!" I could tell he was upset.

"What's going on?" Darry walked into the room and asked in a firm voice.

"Somebody just called and Kat won't tell me who it was," Soda replied, turning to face Darry, "And look," he pointed to me, "she's all upset."

"Who was it Kat?" Darry asked looking at me and raising his eyebrows.

"I…I don't know…" I started. The shaking in my hands had spread to my knees and I felt weak. I felt my stomach lurch. I slapped my hand to my mouth and ran toward the bathroom. I made it just in time to throw up in the toilet. I sat for a second, trying to stop shaking. When I thought I could, I stood up. Darry and Soda were both in the doorway staring at me, their eyes wide with concern.

"Who was that on the phone Kat?" Darry asked again, his voice firm and demanding.

"I don't know," I replied, shaking my head as I rinsed my mouth in the sink and splashed some cool water on my face, "They said they were gonna make Pony pay for what he did…." I said quietly, not looking at Darry and Soda. I was struggling to keep my voice from shaking.

"Ah, Jesus," Darry said softly. "It's okay Kat," he said pulling me into a quick hug, "It's gonna be alright."

I turned to Soda and forced a smile. He gave me a half smile in return and then wrinkled his face, "That was gross," he said, referring to my having just thrown up.

"Yeah, I know," I said punching him in the stomach lightly.

He let out a small laugh and then stopped himself and frowned. He put his head down and went and flopped on the couch in frustration. I guess now didn't see like the time to be laughing and playing around. I felt the same way.

I decided to go to the kitchen to make some coffee when the phone rang again. I held my breath and watched Darry as he picked up the phone.

He didn't even say hello, "Who is this?" he practically yelled. There was a pause and then Darry shouted into the phone, "Come over here and I'll kill you myself!" I watched in disbelief. When Darry said something, he meant it. He slammed the phone down and stared at it for a few seconds, as if daring it to ring again. Then he picked up the receiver and let it drop. It almost hit the ground but the cord stopped short and it dangled carelessly.

Darry turned and sat in his chair, his face tense. I stood in the living room doorway in silence, trying to process what had happened in the last ten minutes.

"Who was the kid that Johnny killed?" I asked suddenly, not really directing my question at Darry or Soda.

"I dunno," Darry replied quietly.

"The cops never said," Soda added.

"I bet it'll be in the paper," I said as I hurried out the front door and onto the porch. The newspaper was sitting near the steps. I grabbed it and headed back into the house, slamming the door behind me.

I dropped down beside Soda on the couch as I opened the paper. I inhaled deeply as I held the paper up and found myself staring at pictures of Ponyboy and Johnny, as well as another teenaged boy. I gasped as I recognized the face. It was Bob. Bob, Cherry Valance's boyfriend. Johnny had killed Bob, the handsome Soc who'd tried to pick a fight with Two-Bit last night. It all finally added up. They had found Ponyboy and Johnny in the park and picked a fight. Probably trying to get even with them for having been with their girls. I shook my head and felt a few tears fall down my cheeks.

"That's Bob," I said turning to Darry who was sitting on the arm of the couch, looking over my shoulder.

"You know him?" Darry asked alarmed.

"No, not really," I started, "Him and his friends, they…they tried to pick a fight with us last night when we were leaving the movies…" Darry and Soda were both looking at me with confused stares. So I told them about the previous night. About me and Two-Bit catching up to Johnny and Pony at the Nightly Double. About Cherry and Marsha. The Socs in the blue Mustang. The blades and the broken pop bottle. And leaving Pony and Johnny at the lot.

"This is all my fault…" I said quietly as I dropped the newspaper on the floor. I felt my stomach lurch again. I should never have left Ponyboy in the lot. I should have walked him home. It had been late. I should have made sure he got home alright. I'm his big sister, I should have been more responsible. If I had, he'd be at home—safe. We'd be having breakfast together or watching Saturday morning cartoons in our pajamas.

"No!" Darry said suddenly breaking my thoughts, "Its my fault!"

"It's not anyone's fault," Soda said sharply getting to his feet and standing in front of us. "It's not anyone's fault…" Soda repeated, this time softly as if he was trying to convince himself.

Suddenly the front door swung open and Two-Bit walked in grinning madly about something that probably only he would understand. He was about to speak when he realized something wasn't right.

"Kat…" he said, "You're still in your clothes from last night…" I looked down at myself. I was still in the same clothes from last night. I hadn't even taken my jacket off.

"What's goin' on guys?" Two-Bit stared at us questioningly.

'He doesn't know,' I thought trying to choke back the tears.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N -- **Please read and review-Enjoy!

**Disclaimer-- **I don't own 'The Outsiders'. I only own the original characters.

**Chapter 16**

I didn't think I had the energy tell Two-Bit what had happened so Darry explained it all to him. He was unusually quiet as he listened to Darry. I could see in his face that he was getting more and more furious.

When Darry told him it was Bob that Johnny had killed in the park, Two-Bit jumped up from the couch and almost screamed, "Dammit, this is all my fault. I should never've tried to pick a fight with those Socs last night!"

'So we're just all gonna blame ourselves,' I thought miserably.

I sighed heavily and shook my head at Two-Bit. "We can't all go blaming ourselves. We just gotta try to get through this," I looked from Two-Bit to Darry to Soda, "We need to stick together and do everything we can to get through this, okay?" I asked. My voice pleaded with them. The three of them slowly nodded in agreement and the front door swung open again.

Steve was now standing in front of us, dressed for work, "Get through what?" he asked with a frown.

I slumped down onto the couch, as Darry once again told the entire story. Steve listened intently. When Darry was finished Steve stomped out the front door, his fists clenched. I heard some crashes on the front porch and Two-Bit and Soda hurried out to see what had happened. I heard some yelling, but couldn't make out what they were saying. I felt numb and tired. Tired of this whole thing. I looked to Darry who was sitting in his chair. He looked the same way I felt. A few minutes later Soda and Two-Bit came back in, Steve followed them. He sat on the couch beside me and I turned to look at him.

"What the hell did you do?" I practically screamed when I looked at Steve. He was holding his left hand tightly in his right and I could see blood trickling through his fingers.

"I punched the wall," Steve said matter-of-factly. His face was blank and unemotional, as if his explanation made perfect sense.

"Aw, Steve…" I said solemnly. I was surprised at how hard Steve was taking this. "Hold on I'll grab you a towel or something." I stood up from the couch and headed to the kitchen. I grabbed a towel, filled it with ice and took it back to Steve.

When I went back to the living room I saw Dally had come in. He was sitting on a chair by the door. Everyone was talking all at once.

"Hey Dally," I said breaking into the conversation, as I sat back down on the couch and handed Steve the ice, "Did the guys tell you what's going on?"

Dally looked at me with his hard blue eyes, "Yeah, I know what's goin' on Kat," he said, "got hauled into the station last night cause of it," he added with a smirk.

"What?!" Soda exclaimed, hearing what Dally had just said, "Why'd you get hauled in…wait did you see Ponyboy and Johnny last night? Do you know where they are…." Soda continued to ask questions until Dally finally cut him off.

"Slow down Sodapop," he said, "The cops hauled me in cause they figured nothin' would happen in this neighborhood without me havin' something' to do with it"

"And did you?" I cut in.

Dally turned and glared at me, "No I didn't, ok?" He crossed his arms over his chest and continued to glare at me.

I glared back and Two-Bit looked at me, "Calm down Kat," he said sternly. I glared at him too and then turned away, annoyed. Two-Bit turned to Dally, "So what'd you tell the cops Dal?"

Everyone turned to listen to Dally. He shrugged casually, "Told 'em I thought that Ponyboy and Johnny were probably headed to Texas. Told 'em it's what I'd do, so I figured it's what they'd do too, if they were smart."

"You think maybe they did actually go to Texas?" Soda asked, looking to our older brother, "Darry what do you think? You think maybe Pony and Johnny went to Texas?"

"I dunno Sodapop…maybe…" Darry said, but he looked unconvinced.

We all sat for a few minutes, silence filling the room. I thought about Johnny and Ponyboy going to Texas, but I wasn't convinced either. After a few minutes Two-Bit stood, looked around the room at the rest of us and spoke, "Okay, let's go find 'em."

"What are you talking about Two-Bit?" I asked.

"Let's go find Johnny and Ponyboy! Dally's probably right. They probably _did_ go to Texas. So let's go. I figure they probably hitchhiked, so they couldn't have made it very far. So let's go!" He rubbed his hands together in anticipation and looked around the room, waiting for us to jump up and go hunting who knows where for Johnny and Ponyboy.

"Come on Two-Bit, get serious," Steve said harshly, "Even if they were headed to Texas, who knows where they'd be by now." Steve was right, but I could tell that Two-Bit was irritated by the way Steve had talked to him.

"Oh yeah Steve! Well you got any better ideas, huh?" Two-Bit practically yelled across the room at Steve.

"No I don't!" Steve stood and yelled back, "But I do know that going to Texas is a stupid idea!"

I stared at them stunned, not knowing what to say. Darry got up from his chair and stood between them, "That's enough!" He said. His voice was loud and stern. "We're not gonna fight about this. And we're not going to Texas. I doubt that's where Pony and Johnny went anyway. We're all gonna calm down and try to get through this the best we can, just like Kat said. Now, I'm sure that Pony and Johnny are just scared, and they're hidin' out somewhere 'til they think it's safe to come home. So until then we're all gonna go about our daily lives. Understand?" No one said anything so Darry repeated himself, "I said, _understand_?" We all nodded and mumbled in agreement.

Soda stood, "Well I guess I better go to work them, huh?" he asked Darry. Darry nodded and Soda headed out of the room to get ready.

"I'm gonna go to work now or I'll be late," Darry said. He turned to me, "Kat you don't have to work today, do you?" I shook my head no. He turned and put the phone back on the hook and continued, "Okay, if you hear anything you come get me, ya hear?" I nodded and he went out the front door. A minute later I heard his Ford pull away from the house.

"Well I'm gonna go too," Dally stood and stretched, "I got things to do, people to see…" he trailed off, "You wanna come Two-Bit?"

Two-Bit turned to me, "You want me to stick around here Kitty Kat?" he asked, his eyes filled with concern.

"Nah," I said shaking my head slowly, "I think I'm just gonna take a shower and then maybe try to have a nap. I didn't get much sleep. Plus, I think I have a bit of a hangover from last night," I added, giving Two-Bit a small smile.

He chuckled slightly, "Serves you right! But are you sure you don't want me to stay with you?" he added seriously.

"I'm sure," I said. And I was. I wanted to be alone. "Maybe you could ask around the neighborhood, see if anyone has seen or heard from Pony or Johnny."

"Yeah, come on Two-Bit. We'll go to the Dingo, see if anyone's heard anything," Dallas said casually, slapping Two-Bit on the shoulder.

"Alright," Two-Bit agreed, "I'll come back later, alright Kat?"

"Okay," I replied, "See ya later. Take it easy Dal."

"Yeah, take it easy guys," Steve added as Two-Bit and Dally walked to the door. They waved in reply and then left.

Steve and I sat on the couch for a few more minutes and I looked at his hand. His fingers had swollen slightly and his knuckles were cut and bruised, but he had stopped bleeding.

"I don't know how I'm gonna do any work today, with my hand like this," Steve said, wincing as he tried to open and close his hand.

"Serves you right for punching your hand through a wall," I said sarcastically.

"It wasn't _through_ a wall," he replied just as sarcastically, "Besides, don't you think it was better than goin' to find a person to do it to?" He asked me, his eyebrows raised.

I shrugged in reply. I suppose it was, but knowing Steve's temper he'd probably still go find a person to put his fist through. We sat in silence for a few more minutes until Soda came into the room wearing jeans and his DX shirt. He and Steve left and I was alone.


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer -** I don't own 'The Outsiders'. I only own the original characters.

**Chapter 17**

Once the house was empty I didn't know what to do with myself. Finally, I decided to have a shower and try to eat something, even though my stomach was still in knots. About a half hour later I was sitting at the table eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, trying to think of anything but Ponyboy and Johnny. The phone rang and I jumped up to get it. My heart beat quickly as I answered it, hoping with everything I had that it was Ponyboy.

"Hello," I held my breath.

"Kat? Hey is that you?" I recognized the voice instantly as Sandy, Soda's girlfriend.

"Yeah Sandy, yeah it's Kat. What's up?" I asked, disappointed that it wasn't Ponyboy.

"I heard what happened to Ponyboy and Johnny and…well…I'm real sorry Kat," Sandy replied softly.

"Yeah, thanks…um…you haven't by any chance seen them, or heard anything have you?" I doubted that she had heard anything, but I had to ask, for my own sake.

"No, I'm sorry Kat, I haven't," Sandy replied, then asked, "Uh…is Soda there? I really need to talk to him about something."

"No, he went to work about a half hour ago," I answered, wondering what could be more important than Soda's little brother missing.

"Oh…okay, maybe I'll go see him later, then. Thanks Kat," Sandy was about to hang up the phone when I cut in.

"Sandy," I started, "Listen, Soda's pretty upset about Ponyboy. We all are. Maybe you and Evie could go over and try to cheer Soda and Steve up?"

"Yeah, we could do that Kat. I'll call Evie right away," Sandy said with a bit of enthusiasm.

"Thanks Sandy. And if you hear anything at all, let us know alright?" I added before saying goodbye and hanging up the phone.

I sat for a few minutes trying to decide what to do. After a few minutes I went upstairs, got dressed and headed out the front door. I needed to go someplace, but it would take me too long to walk, so I headed over to the DX to borrow Steve's car.

-----

When I arrived a the DX the mood was far different from yesterday. Soda was sitting on a stool behind the counter looking depressed and exhausted. Steve was pacing the floor mumbling under his breath about socs, and rumbles, and how if he got a hold of anyone today… I couldn't really make out all of it, but I could tell he was still really upset.

When Soda saw me, he jumped up from his stool and ran to the front of the counter. "Did you hear something Kat? Did you hear from Pony and Johnny?" he looked at me his eyes big with anticipation.

I shook me head sadly, "No Sodapop, I didn't," his face fell and I added, "But I talked to Sandy. She heard what happened and she was real sorry. She said her and Evie might stop by later." I looked at Soda hoping that this might improve his mood, just a little.

"That's good Kat," Soda said with a sigh, "So, what are ya doin' here?" He asked.

"I gotta go someplace, and I was wonderin' if I could borrow your car Steve," I ask turning to Steve. He nodded and without a word took his keys out of his pocket and tossed them to me. "Thanks," I said as I headed toward the door.

"Where ya goin' Kat?" Soda asked as I was about to say goodbye.

"Just gotta go talk to someone is all," I said as I gave him a smile and waved goodbye to him and Steve.


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer - **I don't own 'The Outsiders'. I only own the original characters.

**Chapter 18**

A few minutes later I pulled into Tulsa Memorial Cemetery. I hadn't been there since the day we had buried mom and dad. I sat in the car for a few minutes regretting that I had come. My hands seemed glued to the steering wheel and I didn't think I could get out of the car. Finally, after a few minutes, I turned the ignition off and open the door. My heart started to beat faster as I got out of Steve's car and walked slowly through the cemetery.

As I approached my parents' shared grave, my eyes blurred with tears and I had a hard time reading the inscription;

_Darrel Shaynne Curtis_

_January 12, 1926 – March 8, 1966_

_Allison Marie Curtis_

_August 28, 1928 – March 8, 1966_

_Beloved Father and Mother_

As I read the tombstone I couldn't hold back my tears. I sat down on the grass as tears began to fall from my eyes and my shoulders heaved as a sobbed. I cried for my parents whom I missed more than I knew you could ever miss anyone. I cried for Johnny, sweet Johnny who had killed a Soc to protect himself and my brother. I cried for Soda who had dropped out of school and gotten a job because he wanted to do the right thing. I cried for Darry because he worked too hard and worried too much and because I missed the older brother that he had been. I cried for Ponyboy, because I knew wherever he was he was scared. I cried for the gang; for everything we had seen and done. For growing up too fast and yet not really growing up at all. And I cried for myself because I felt helpless and small in a world that seemed so big and powerful. I cried thinking back to the day of my parents' funeral.

It had been a warm, windy day, only six months earlier. The sun had shone brightly in a clear blue sky. The weather had not matched any of our moods as we had stood, sweltering in the sun, my brothers dressed in shirts and ties and me in a black dress that only days before had belonged to my mother. There had been quite a few people at the burial, even more had been at the funeral service at the church. Folks from the neighborhood, some friends of my parents and people they had worked with. My brothers and I had stood at the front of the crowd near the coffins. Sodapop cried and Ponyboy clung to him, afraid to let go. Darry had stood tall and strong, breathing heavily, trying with all his might not to break down like I knew he wanted to. He kept his eyes forward and squeezed my hand as I cried. Steve, Two-Bit and Johnny had stood off to the side. They stood and waited while people gave us hugs and shook our hands and told us how sorry they were. I had barely known anyone there, and all the names and faces seemed to blur together.

And then, just like that, everyone else was gone and my brothers and I were alone with our friends. All of the guys had been uncharacteristically quiet and subdued, I wished with all my might that someone would crack a joke or say something sarcastic, that things would go back to normal. More than anything I wished that I would wake up and find out this had all been a bad dream.

The sudden death of my parents had hit the rest of the gang just as hard as it had hit me and my bothers. Everyone had liked my mom and dad and although, at times, my parents hadn't always approve of our friends and some of the things we had done together, they had been good to all of them and everyone was hurting that day. After saying our final goodbyes, we walked silently back to the cars. As we had walked through the cemetery, out of the corner of my eye near, the other side of the cemetery, I saw Dally leaning up against a tree, staring at my parents' grave. I had tried to catch his eye and wave him over to join the rest of us, but he had either not seen me, or had chosen to ignore me. As I had gotten into Darry's truck I turned to look at Dally again and he was gone. Dally was weird that way. I suppose he had like my parents and he wanted to pay his respects to them, but unlike the rest of us who had clung to each other for support, he had chosen to be alone. He always seemed to be facing the world alone.

I took a deep breath and tried to steady my breathing as I wiped the remaining tears from my eyes. My face felt flushed and my head was beginning to pound. I sighed. It had been a long twenty-four hours. I hadn't eaten or slept much and on top of all that I had a hangover. I felt like crap. I wondered where Two-Bit and Dally were and whether or not they had come across any news about Ponyboy and Johnny. I thought back to earlier that morning and how upset Two-Bit and Steve had been when they heard what had happened. It was comforting to know how much they cared about my brother and Johnny. Then I thought about how nonchalant Dally had been about the whole thing. He hadn't seemed to be worried about Ponyboy or Johnny in the least, he had acted as if killing Socs was a regular occurrence for Johnny.

'Oh my god!' my thoughts screamed.

Suddenly it dawned on me. Dally knew where Johnny and Ponyboy were. He had to. If there was one thing in the world Dally cared about it was Johnny. And Dally would do anything to protect him. If Dally didn't know where Johnny was he'd be in a frenzy trying to find him. But Dally wasn't in a frenzy. He was calm and cool and acting as if nothing big was going on. Dally had to know where Johnny and my brother were.

'I have to go see Dally,' I thought as I stood up and headed back to Steve's car. 'Johnny and Pony are smart kids and Dally would be the first person they would have gone to last night for help. Why hadn't I figured this out before? I would have gone to Dally if I had been in the same situation, it made sense that Johnny and Pony would go to him too.'


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer -** I don't own 'The Outsiders.' I only own the original characters.

**Chapter 19**

My mind continued to race as I pulled Steve's car into the Dingo. I got out and scanned the parking lot. I spotted Two-Bit sitting at a picnic table at the far side of the lot talking to Mike and his sister Kathy. I walked over quickly and plopped myself down beside Kathy.

"Two-Bit, where's Dally?" I interrupted their conversation and didn't bother to say hello.

"Uh, I think he went back to Buck's…" Two-Bit started, "said his ribs were hurtin' him from where Tim paid him back last night for slashin' his tires. Why?" he asked as he cocked an eyebrow.

'So Tim did find Dally last night,' I thought to myself, then shook my head trying to focus.

"I just gotta talk to him, is all," I replied quickly, as I stood to leave.

"Hey Kat, stick around for a bit," Kathy said turning to me and smiling.

I smiled back but shook my head no. "Nah, thanks Kath, but I really gotta go talk to Dal." Kathy shrugged her shoulders in reply and I continued, "Maybe we could do something later though."

"Sounds good, give me a call, I'll probably be at Mikey's" Kathy replied.

I smiled and nodded at her. Kathy was just about the only girl in the neighborhood that I could stand to be around. She was a sweet girl and I was glad to call her a friend. She was pretty with shoulder length blonde hair and bright dancing blue eyes. She had been in the same grade as me, although we'd barely had any classes together because she had always been put in the smart classes, and, well, I barely even went to class. She was smart and had been accepted to Tulsa University, but like most in our neighborhood she couldn't afford to go. So she was working at a daycare downtown trying to save money to go next year.

Kathy and I hung out together quite a bit and it gave me and opportunity to do what I considered 'girl' things. Things I could never do with my brothers, or Two-Bit or the rest of the gang. She still lived with her parents, on the other side of the park from us. She had an older sister who had graduated from high school when we were freshmen. Her name was Anita and she had gotten pregnant by a bull rider who had come to town for a rodeo and then moved to Kansas with him. Two-Bit and I had been at her brother Mike's house last night which he shared with some friends. Mike was the same age as Darry and Dally. He had squinty brown eyes that darted around excitedly waiting for the next big thing to happen. He was tall and stocky and he had dark brown hair that was almost black. He was happy working over at the steel mill because it was steady work and steady money. He was in a gang called the Vipers and he had a tattoo of a snake on his left bicep, just like the rest on the Vipers. He wasn't much of a trouble maker, but was always ready for a good fight. He was a good guy and pretty easygoing unless you called him Mikey, which only Kathy could get away with.

"Don't call me Mikey, Kath…I'm warning you," Mike said shaking his finger at her and trying to look threatening. Kathy leaned across the table toward her brother, gritted her teeth and tried to bit his finger. Mike pulled away just in time and Kathy let out a chuckle. Two-Bit grinned watching the entire episode and I rolled my eyes.

'Siblings. So strange,' I laughed, as I thought about who my brothers and I acted sometimes.

"Well, I hate to leave, with all the fun going on," I said with a laugh, "but I gotta find Dally."

"Alrighty, take it easy Kat. I'll see ya later," Two-Bit said. Kathy and Mike both waved as I drove off towards Buck's.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N – **Thanks for the reviews guys! bookworm2u and Emmy Um…I never know what to say in the authors notes. But since this is Chapter 20 (milestone!) I thought it would be kind of interesting to explain a bit about the story and why I've written some of the things I've written. I'd really like to hear what you have to say about my story and my ideas.

**If you're not interested in my ramblings (and who could blame you) just skip down to the story! (Please review)**

Original characters- There have been a few original characters:  
_Kat_, (obviously) who I hope is becoming a well-rounded, interesting character. I've tried to make her as 'real' as possible. I like the idea of a Curtis sister and I've read a lot of Curtis sister stories, many of which I've really enjoyed. I just think that if the Curtis's did have a sister, she'd be a little wild and temperamental, but yet anxious and restless. I also really like the idea of having a sister who is older than Soda and Pony-there aren't that many around. Other original characters include _Cynthia_ (who will appear again in later chapters) her husband _Chris_ and daughter _Sally_. _Sarah_ (who will be in the next chapter). I'm loving writing about Sarah, she's kind of taken on a mind of her own! Sarah's husband _Tom_ will also appear in future chapters. _Mike_ is an original character, although the idea of Kathy's brother was in 'The Outsiders'-I've just given him a name and a voice. I've also made him a member of the Vipers (not sure why Vipers, I guess cause snakes are sort of scary. Would seem silly to have a gang named the Koalas, or the Caterpillars or something like that!). The idea of Mike being in a gang (other than the Shepard gang or the Brumly Boys) was sort of a fleeting one and I'm not sure it will go anywhere. Also original are the rest of the staff at Mel's (and _Mel_!_); Kevin, Tyler, Heather, _and _Tammy. _And last but not least _Emma_ (hopefully you haven't forgotten about her!) who will be appearing later on.

Other characters-I find it really interesting that in 'The Outsiders' greaser girls are mentioned by the boys, but never actually appear in any scenes. I've taken some of those characters and added them to my story, hopefully rounding it out a bit, while also given Kat some 'girlfriends'. _Kathy_ will play a part in future chapters, as will _Sandy_, and _Evie. _I'm still trying to decide whether or not _Angela _and _Sylvia _will play a part in the story. (Any ideas?)

Characters from 'The Outsiders'-  
I hope that I have stayed true to the characters and their personalities. My favorite character to use in scenes with Kat is _Two-Bit_. I think he's funny, charming, tough and smart. I hope I have portrayed him as such. _Dallas _and _Steve_ and _Johnny_ are also a lot of fun to write and they will all play a bigger part later on in the story. As for _Ponyboy_, _Sodapop_, and _Darry, _I like writing scenes where all the Curtis's are interacting with each other and I've found it interesting trying to find a place for a sister to fit into that.

Also in this chapter I've added my own little history about Buck's house, not sure why, mostly for fun I suppose!

Thanks again to everyone for reading my story (I just found out that I was added to someone's 'Favorite' list-how exciting!). I hope you are enjoying reading it as much as I am writing it. I know it's not extremely oringinal, but I hope I've bee nable to keep it new and interesting. Thanks to everyone who has review/e-mailed. I really appreciate they encouragement, ideas, suggestions, etc. Please keep them coming!

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer - **I don't own 'The Outsiders'. Only the original characters.

**Chapter 20**

It took me almost no time at all to get to Buck's. The entire way my heart was pounding quickly and my mind was racing a mile a minute. I kept hoping that my theory was right and that Dally would tell me where Ponyboy and Johnny were hiding. That we could go get them and bring them home.

Buck's place was a large two-story house, near the edge of town. When I was a little kid the house was distinguished and well kept. It was owned by a middle-aged, Irish couple and they had run a Bed and Breakfast out of it. They had been an odd couple, who kept to themselves most of the time. As kids, we always thought the wife was a witch who cast spells on people and boiled little kids for dinner. None of the kids in the neighborhood would go near the place and it had always scared me. One day the Irish lady just went crazy and jumped off the roof of the house, killing herself. Her husband was broken hearted and decided to move back to Ireland. So he had put the house up for sale and left town, never to be heard from again. For years it had been empty and everyone said it was haunted by the sprit of the crazy Irish lady.

It became rundown and shabby and one day, about two years ago, Buck Merrill bought it. At the time I couldn't figure out how he could afford it, but now, looking at it's state, I wouldn't be surprised if someone had paid him to take it. Now it was known as a party house and it was a favorite hangout for many a greaser. I still remember the first time I went there for a party with Two-Bit, Darry and Dally a few weeks after Buck bought it. I had stood in the driveway refusing to go in, because I still believed all the stories we had heard as kids. I probably would have stood there all night if Darry hadn't thrown me over his shoulder and walked me, kicking and screaming, through the front door.

I parked Steve's car in the gravel driveway, climbed up the crumbling, cement steps and walked in the side door, entering the kitchen. It took me a second to adjust to the overwhelming smell of stale beer and cigarettes. I glanced around, surprised at how quiet the place was. I checked my watch. It was almost eleven. I headed through the kitchen and into the living room where Buck was sprawled out on the couch, clad only in blue jeans and cowboy boots, drinking a beer and watching television. He didn't even look up when I entered the room.

"Hey Buck, Dallas around?" I asked standing in the doorway.

Buck slowly turned to look at me. He blinked a few times as if trying to focus his eyes. He looked me up and down, like it was the first time he had ever laid eyes on me. He squinted as if the light was hurting his eyes. "Yeah I think he's upstairs," he said with a drawl. His words were slurred, indicating that he was drunk. "You wanna watch some TV?" he pointed to the television set and raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Uh…no thanks Buck," I said uneasily. Buck was again looking me up and down and it was making me uncomfortable. Buck had a knack for making people feel uncomfortable.

"Whatever…." Buck mumbled as I turned and headed up the stairs, that were near the back of the house.

I took the steps two at a time and hurried down the hall to the last door on the left. The heavy wooden door was partly open and I could hear the sound of Elvis coming from the radio. Without knocking I entered the room.

Dally was sitting on the bed with his shirt off. I could see a few large bruises running down his left side. He was taping his ribs. As I entered the room he looked up.

"Ever hear of knocking, Kat?" he asked with a scowl.

"Tim did quite the number on ya, huh?" I said mockingly.

Dally glared at me, "Whadya want Kat?" he asked, as he slipped his t-shirt over his head with a groan.

"I want you to tell me where my brother and Johnny are," I said.

Dally grunted and leaned back on the bed, propping himself up with a pillow, "I told you, if they're smart, they're on their way to Texas."

"Bullshit Dally, they _are_ smart and that's why I know they came to you last night and you know where they are!" My voice was getting louder and I could feel my face getting flushed.

"Ah, calm down Kat, you're acting stupid," Dally barked back at me.

"I am not stupid, Dallas Winston! And don't tell me to calm down! Why is everyone always telling me to calm down?" I snarled. I was getting mad because I could tell by the look in his eye that he was lying to me and I could also tell that he was enjoying teasing me.

He got up off the bed and began to walk across the small room toward me, but I put my hand out stopping him, "I never said you were stupid _Katrina_…" Dally said with a smirk, stressing my full name, which he knew I hated to be called, "I just said you were _acting_ stupid, and you are. And everyone's always telling you to calm down, cause you get yourself all worked up about nuthin' and then you go yellin' at people for no damn reason. Plus, I don't know where Johnny and Pony are."

"Bullshit!" I repeated, "You do so, and you damn well better tell me Dallas…_or else_…." I tried to sound tough and threatening, but I knew Dally would see right through it. In my head I cursed myself for having added 'or else'. 'Think before you speak, Kat,' I thought to myself.

"Or else what Kat? Huh?" Dally demanded, then he grinned slightly, "Or else nuthin'" he said with a laugh.

"Oh shut up Dallas!" I practically screamed.

There was a loud bang on the wall and a voice shouted, "Both of you shut the hell up would ya! It's too damn early for all this racket!"

Dallas laughed loudly and sat back on the bed. "You're gonna get me kicked outta here if you don't cool it Kat," Dally said with a laugh, obviously not caring about his cranky neighbor.

I felt sort of guilty and I plopped myself into the wooden chair that was in the corner and propped my feet up on the bed. I sat and fumed silently for a minute, watching Dally as he put his cowboy boots on. When he was done he leaned back, propping himself up on the pillow again. He glanced over at me and smirked.

"What Dallas?" I asked with a snarl, annoyed by how this conversation was turning out.

"Nuthin'" he replied, still smirking.

"Ah come off it, Dallas! What?" I asked trying not to let my temper get away from me. The last thing I wanted to do was start yelling at Dally again and say something stupid. I had a gift for getting mad and blurting out the first stupid thing that came to my mind and making a fool out of myself. Darry said I needed to think more before I said things. I tried, but it wasn't easy when Dally was pissing me off. I could never understand why Dallas Winston made me so damn angry sometimes.

Dally stared at me for a second as if contemplating what he was going to say, finally he spoke. "What makes you think I know where Ponyboy and Johnny are?" he asked coolly.

I shrugged my shoulders trying to stay calm. "Cause you'd be goin' crazy if you didn't know where Johnny was," I replied matter-of-factly. I looked down at my feet and muttered under my breath, "Plus it's what I woulda done."

"Huh?" Dally asked.

"I said, I woulda come to you if it had been me," I repeated crossly, looking up at him, "You know you woulda been the first person I'd have come to to get me outta something like that….I just figured Pony and Johnny'd do the same, is all."

Dally smirked and replied sarcastically, "Oh really?"

"Shut up Dallas!" my voice was getting loud again. Even though I'd done it a thousand times, I hated admitting that I would come running to Dallas to get me out of trouble. More so, I hated the fact that he was teasing me about it.

He laughed and then said, "Well, even if I did know where they were, what makes you think I'd tell you?"

I looked up at him, my eyes getting big, "So you _do_ know where they are?" I asked excitedly.

"I said _if_ Kat," Dally replied calmly.

"Well, _if_ you knew where they were I'd want you to tell me because Pony's my brother and Johnny is my friend and I'm worried sick about them. So's everyone else." I said trying not to get too worked up. Now I was convinced that Dally knew where they were. I was hoping with all my might that he was going to tell me and we could hop in Steve's car and go get them and take them home.

"The less you know the better, Kat," Dally said as he stood and grabbed his jean jacket off the floor.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, a bit confused. Did this mean he did know where they were or didn't? Why wouldn't he just give me a straight answer? I looked at him, waiting for an explanation.

"You need to just stay outta this mess Kat, it's the best thing for you…and Darry and Sodapop too." He said, looking at me seriously, his eyebrows furrowed. He put his jacket on slowly, grimacing at the pain the movement was obviously causing his ribs. "Come on, let's get outta here," he said as he headed out the door.

I stood slowly and followed him out into the hallway and down the stairs. I was still confused by what he had said. What did he mean the less I knew the better? This was my brother we were talking about, I needed to know. Neither of us spoke until we were outside.

I was walking behind Dally, when he suddenly turned to face me, causing me to run into him. I backed up and looked at him. He and a serious look on his face. "I'm gonna tell you something, but you gotta swear you're not gonna ask me any more questions. And you gotta swear you're not gonna say anything to anybody. We're not gonna talk about this anymore. We're just gonna drop it, okay?" he asked, "You swear?"

"Yeah, I swear," I promised.

Dally nodded, knowing that I would keep my word. "Ponyboy and Johnny are fine, they're outta town. I'm gonna get them when things have cooled down a bit."

My heart almost leapt out of my chest. I looked at Dally and grinned widely in excitement. My brother was okay! Ponyboy and Johnny were okay! If Dally said they were okay, then it had to be true. I had a million questions that I wanted to ask. Where were they? Were they safe? What exactly had happened at the park? Did they have any money? Any food? But I couldn't. I'd given my word. And I was always true to my word. I took a deep breath and forced myself to stay calm and not jump around in excitement, like I wanted to.

Dally turned to head down the street, but I pointed to Steve's car and we both got in. My hands were shaking as I put the key in the ignition and started the engine. I put my hands on the steering wheel and sat for a minute trying to steady my breathing. I was happier at that moment than I could ever remember being. Relief washed over my body and a few tears slid down my cheeks. Embarrassed, I looked over at Dally, who was watching me. He probably hadn't seen me cry since we were little kids. I had made it a point not to cry in front of Dallas Winston, it just wasn't the sort of thing you did in front of him.

Without warning, I turned to him and threw my arms around his neck, kissing his cheek. "Thanks Dally," I said sincerely.

"Thanks for what?" he asked, trying to act casual. He made a disgusted face and wiped his cheek where I had just kissed him, as if I had some sort of disease.

"Ah, never mind," I said rolling my eyes and laughing. Dally continued to wipe at his cheek, muttering about germs and this was why he never did anything nice for people and how he never shoulda told me anything….


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer - **I don't own 'The Outsiders'. Only the original characters.

**Chapter 21**

We drove for a bit, and I continued to laugh at Dally, who was still moaning and groaning. I wasn't really sure where we were headed until my stomach started to growl and I turned a corner and parked in front of Mel's Diner.

"Let's eat, Dallas," I said turning off the engine and stepping out of the car.

Dallas got out as well, walked around the car and stood beside me on the sidewalk, "Alright _Katrina_, but keep your hands too yourself, huh? I know it's hard around me an' all, but try to control yourself…" he started

"Ugh, you wish Dally," I said with a laugh, punching him as hard as I could in the arm. He just grinned at me. I rolled my eyes and walked into the diner, taking a seat at the counter. Dally followed and sat down beside me.

Sarah turned from the table she was serving at the other end of the room as we entered. Upon seeing me, she threw the coffee pot down that was in her hand, spilling some on the man seated at the table. She didn't seem to noticed though and she hurried over, pulling my up from my stool and drawing me into a warm, strong hug. After what seemed like hours, she pulled away and the questions started to pour out.

"Oh Kat, I read about your poor brother in the newspaper this morning. I tried to call you but there was no answer. I thought about coming over, but Tom said that I should probably give y'all your space. I'm so sorry. Are you alright? Is Ponyboy alright? Do you know where he is? The paper said there's a warrant out for his arrest. Did you know the boy that died? Is there anything I can do?" Sarah continued to ramble on. I looked over at Dally who was staring at Sarah with interest, not really sure what to make of her.

"Uh, Sarah," I tried to cut in. It took a few more tries, but finally she stopped and looked at me with sympathetic eyes. I almost laughed, she looked so anxious, "Sarah," I said again, "I'm okay really, and I'm pretty sure Ponyboy's okay too," I said turning to Dally and giving him a small smile, glad that I could now say that with confidence. I continued. "We're pretty upset and all, but we're just tryin' to stay cool about it ya know?" I was began to feel a bit uncomfortable when I realized that some of the customers, as well as Heather and another waitress Tammy, were starting to stare at us. I sat down and decided to change the subject, "Um, Sarah…you've never met Dallas have you? This is Dallas Winston," I pointed to Dally.

"Well, hello Dallas," Sarah turned to him and held out her hand. Dallas didn't offer his hand back, but nodded and grunted in acknowledgement. It was something my brothers and the whole gang did when they were trying to act tough, I guess it's a guy thing. I almost laughed, when Sarah literally took Dally's hand off the counter, placed it in her own, shook both their arms up and down dramatically and said "Nice to meet you Dallas Winston. I'm Sarah Talyor."

Dallas looked up at the older lady as if she were crazy, "Dally," was all he managed to mumble.

Sarah smiled brightly and began to walk around to the other side of the counter, "Well Dally, it's very nice to finally meet you," she grabbed two coffee cups, filled them and placed them in front of us, "I've heard a lot about you, and I've seen you come in a few times with Kat's brothers and some of her other friends. It's a shame we haven't met until now. But I guess today is as good a day as any, wouldn't ya say?" She smiled at Dally and handed him a menu, "So, what can I get for you two?"

Dally seemed dumbfounded, by Sarah and didn't saw anything, just stared back at her trying to take her in. I chuckled a little. Sarah liked to talk a lot and I guess it was a little bit of a shock if you didn't know her. And Dally didn't like people who talked a lot, he said he didn't trust people who felt the need to talk every minute of every day. Plus Dally wasn't used to adults talking to him without contempt or fear in their voices.

I watched Dally to see what he would do or say. I was hoping you wouldn't say something offensive or disrespectful in front of Sarah. Surprisingly, he didn't. He scanned the menu quickly, shut it and looked up at Sarah, "I'll have a cheeseburger and fries. And a chocolate shake," he said, "Please," he added, with only a bit of disdain.

Sarah's smile widened when Dally spoke and she turned to me, "And you, my dear?" she asked.

"Um, I'll have the same." Then thinking for a minute I added, "And could you ask Kevin to make two more burgers to go? Two more chocolate shakes, one strawberry shake, and a BLT sandwich?"

Dally turned to me and raised his eyebrows, "Hungry, Kat?"

"Funny, Dally," I said with a smirk, "I'm gonna take Darry, Steve and Soda some lunch."

"That's a nice thing to do, Kat," Sarah said with a smile as she turned and went into the kitchen to place our order.

"That's a nice thing to do, Kat," Dally repeated in a mocking tone, as Sarah walked away.

I glared at him, "Be nice Dally."

He just rolled his eyes, "She's sorta crazy, huh?"

"She is not," I snapped at him, "She's sweet, and I like her, so be nice."

"Nice…" Dally mumbled under his breath, "She wants me to be nice to the crazy lady…." I smacked him on the back of the head to shut him up as Sarah came back from the kitchen with our milkshakes.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N -** Thanks for the reviews!

bookworm2u: Sorry you were sick, I hope you're feeling better now! Glad you liked the chapters. I hope you like these ones as well. I wasn't sure how to handle the fact that Kat knows wherePony is and she can't tell her brothers.In chapter 23 you'll see how she acts around Darry.

Two-BitGortez: thanks!

Sodapop's1gurl: I thought it would be interesting if Dally did tell Kat. I'm trying to develop their relationship a bit more and I thought it would show the trust between the two of them. Hope it worked!

**Disclaimer-**I don't own 'The Outsiders'

**Chapter 22**

Sarah left to serve other customers and Dally and I sat at the counter in silence, waiting for our food to come. As I slurped my milkshake, I thought about Ponyboy and Johnny. Knowing that they were together, some place safe, made me smile. I wondered how I was going to keep my mouth shut and not tell Darry and Soda that they were okay. Not to mention Two-Bit. I told Two-Bit everything. But I had sworn to Dally that I wasn't going to say anything, and I was going to keep my word. It was just going to be difficult.

My mind continued to wander as I thought about my brothers and the rest of the gang. I thought about all of the hard times we had been through, like when my parents died, and all the times we had watched Johnny stagger into our house after a late night encounter with his father or getting a phone call saying Dally had been picked up by the cops.

Things got rough sometimes, but there were good times too. Like playing football in the park and having barbeques in the backyard or water fights on a hot summer day. I smiled, thinking about all the good times we had. My mind wandered back to the day I had graduated from high school.

-

_My brothers were up already and the whole gang was eating breakfast, when I entered the kitchen. No one looked up or even acknowledged my presence. Darry was reading the paper and Soda and Steve were playing blackjack while eating their eggs. Johnny and Pony were doing the crossword puzzle and I could see Dally and Two-Bit watching TV and eating cake in the living room._

"_Morning," I said as I opened the fridge and grabbed the milk. No one said anything, they just continued doing what they were doing. I frowned. No one even seemed to care that in a mere five hours I would be a high school graduate. A few months before I didn't think that I was going to make it and now here it was, one of the biggest days of my life, and no one seemed to give a crap. It made me miss my parents. I knew that if they were alive they would have been jumping for joy at the news that I had actually graduated from high school. They would have thrown a party or something and made a huge deal out of today._

"_I said, good morning," I said annoyed. I sat down beside Darry at the table and slapped at his newspaper._

_He lowered the paper and looked over at me, "Oh, morning Kat," he said, as casually as he would any morning. But this wasn't just any morning!_

_I frowned some more, but Darry didn't seem to notice. "It's nice you don't have to work today, huh Dar?" I asked, hoping that would make him talk about the graduation ceremony._

"_Yeah sure is," he replied nonchalantly, "I was thinkin' maybe I'd go down to the riverbank and try my hand at fishin' off the old pier." He added._

_Ponyboy looked up from the crossword puzzle, "That sounds like fun. Can Johnny and I come along?"_

"_Yeah that does sound like fun," Soda interrupted before Darry could answer, "Maybe Steve and I'll come along too and then we could all go to the Dingo for pizza! How 'bout you guys?" he asked over his shoulder to Dally and Two-Bit._

_Dally shrugged in agreement. Two-Bit barely took his eye off the TV screen as he said, "I suppose, I got nothing' better to do today."_

_I sat in my chair staring at them in disbelief. How could they be acting like today was just another day? I could feel my face turning red and my heart starting to beat faster. How dare they forget what today was! I stood up quickly, almost tipping over my chair. "Whadya mean you don't have anything better to do today Two-Bit?" I yelled at him, "Fine you all go fishing today, see if I care!" I shouted at them all._

_I sat back down on my chair and crossed my arms on my chest, fuming. 'They forgot about my graduation! Fine! I don't care if they want to go fishing instead of coming to my graduation' I thought to myself. _

_I slowly looked across the table at Soda who was staring back at me. I saw a glint in his eye and his face broke into a huge grin._

"_Did you actually think we forgot Kat?" Soda asked with a laugh. _

_I looked around at the rest of the guys who were looking back at me with amused grins on their faces. Darry laughed, pulled me up from my chair and gave me a big hug, spinning me around. When he put me down he, Soda, Steve, and Pony disappeared from the room. _

_Dally and Two-Bit come in from the living room. Two-Bit was carrying a cake that said 'ConGRADulations Kitty Kat!' and Dally was carrying a big bunch of balloons. Dally pushed me into a chair at the table as Two-Bit put the cake in front of me. Johnny turned to the desk in the corner and pulled something out of a drawer. I looked to see that it was a crown made of cardboard that said 'The Graduate' across the front Johnny grinned at me as he placed it on my head. Dally tied the balloons to the back of my chair. _

_Seconds later Pony and Darry came back into the room carrying a banner that said 'Way to Go Kat!'. They quickly pinned it across the opening between the living room and dining room. Steve returned with an armful of presents, Soda was behind him carrying the camera. _

_Immediately they all started talking at once, congratulating me and telling me how proud they were. Two-Bit kept hitting me in the shoulder grinning like mad. I knew he was proud of me, even if he wasn't going to be walking across the stage with me. Soda took pictures as I cut the cake, and kept on taking pictures as Dally and Steve smeared icing all over my face. _

_We all sat around the table as I opened my presents. Ponyboy and Soda gave me a leather bound journal and Steve gave me a beautiful fountain pen. Jokingly, they said it was so I could write down things when I was angry instead of yelling at them. Two-Bit was very proud of the black leather guitar strap that he gave me that had silver stars on it. I was touched, when, instead of a card to go with it, he handed me a receipt, just to prove he had paid for it. Johnny presented me with a copy of 'Anna Karenina' my favorite book. Dallas, for some strange reason, gave me a baseball bat. It was a nice baseball bat, I suppose. Lastly I opened my gift from Darry. Inside the box was a pair of brand new, brown, leather cowboy boots. I had been wearing an old pair of Two-Bit's for years and they were falling to pieces. These ones were absolutely gorgeous and I knew they had cost Darry a lot of money. _

_I smiled, sitting at my place at the table, crown on my head, balloons tied to my chair, cake in front of me. I looked around the table at my brothers and my friends and grinned. I was stupid to think they had forgotten. They sure had surprised me though. I was awestruck by the effort they had put into the whole thing._

_My day only got better. During the graduation ceremony, when the principal called my name to get my diploma, the whole gang had stood up in the back of the gym, hooting, hollering and screaming my name. Anyone else would have been embarrassed, but I was touched. From across the gym I could barely make out their faces, but I could see Two-Bit and Soda standing on their chairs waving like crazy. Later that day, instead of going to the graduation supper at the school, Darry took the whole gang out for steaks. I tried to convince him to just to take us for pizza, but he insisted. _

_That night I laid in bed thinking over the day, smiling to myself. Happy and proud that I had actually graduated from high school. The only thing that would have made my big day any better was if my parents would have been there. It had only been two months since they died, but it was still hard. I grinned to myself knowing that was why the gang had made such a fuss over me, hoping that it would take my mind off my parents. We were always there for each other. No matter what._

-

"Hey Dal?" I asked turning to him.

"Hum?" he mumbled as he continued drinking his milkshake.

"I've been meanin' to ask you somthin'" I replied.

"What's that?" Dally asked raising his eyebrows.

"How come you gave me a baseball bat for graduation?" I asked him.

Dally laughed slightly and looked at me, his eyebrows still raised, "You mean you don't know?" I shook me head slowly, wondering if I should know. Dallas laughed again, "I gave you that bat over three months ago and you don't know why?"

"Should I?" I asked, feeling silly.

Dally just shook his head and laughed some more. Finally he spoke, his voice serious, "You remember that time when we were younger and we were coming home from the park and we almost got jumped?" he asked me. I nodded knowing exactly what he was talking about, I had been about twelve. Dally continued, "Remember I had been showin' ya how to pitch a baseball, cause you wanted to be able to strike Two-Bit out?" I nodded again, remembering.

_I had always been really bad at baseball, and the boys never wanted me to play with them. I had begged Dally for weeks to teach me to throw a curve ball. Finally he had agreed and we had spent a whole afternoon at the park working on my pitching skills. _

_As we were walking home, a group of older kids, about seventeen or eighteen years old, had surrounded us and started calling us names and were throwing rocks at us. It was the first time anything like that had happened to me and I had never been so scared. There were five of them and only the two of us, so I knew running was out of the question. I had stood close to Dally, as he yelled back at them, swearing and threatening them. They had only laughed at him, which made him angrier. I remembered how his eyes had turned cool and anger had flashed through them. _

_Without hesitation, he grabbed the baseball bat that I was holding in my hands and in one swift movement cracked it against the biggest boy's head. I had jumped, as the sound of the wooden bat hitting bone, echoed in the air. The boy slumped down to the ground, blood trickling from the side of his head. At that moment I was sure Dally had killed him, but I would later learn that he only had a concussion and a busted eardrum. _

_Seeing Dally winding up for another swing and not wanting to face the same fate as their friend, the other boys quickly ran off. I was still scared and I started to cry. Dally had turned to me with a devilish grin and said, "Don't worry Kat, nothin's ever gonna happen to you as long as I'm around, and you've got a baseball bat!"_

I turned to Dally, my eyes wide, "I can't believe you remember that." I said.

He laughed, "I can't believe you _didn't_!"

"I'm sorry, Dally," I said seriously. And I was. Dallas had tried to do something nice for me for my graduation by giving me that baseball bat and I had had no clue what it was supposed to mean. Thinking about it now I realized it was the sweetest thing Dally had ever done for me. Probably the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for me.

I looked over at Dally, who was busy eating his hamburger, which Sarah had just brought out. I touched his arm softly and he looked over at me. "Thanks Dal," I said.

Dally shrugged and said casually, "Whatever Kat, it's no big deal, ya know, it's just a baseball bat."

"It is a big deal Dally," I interjected, "It was a really nice thing to do and I'm sorry it took me so long to figure that out."

Dally shrugged his shoulders and then frowned slightly, "You're not gonna kiss me again are you?" he asked making a disgusted face.

"Nah," I said with a laugh, "Once today was good enough." Dally laughed too and we finished eating in a comfortable silence. When we were done, Sarah came out of the kitchen and told us that the rest of the food I had ordered would be a couple more minutes.

After she left, I turned to Dally. "Dal, did you know Darry gave me my first boxing lesson, after you hit that kid with the baseball bat? Said he was worried that I was going to get hurt walking around alone. He was only about thirteen, but man could he fight! He was the biggest kid in the neighborhood. You remember? He said he wanted me to be prepared in case next time there wasn't someone around to look out for me," I said, then I added with a smirk, "So he taught me to throw a mean right hook!"

Dally grinned, "You do have a mean right hook," he said with a laugh. I laughed too. Dally would know, seeing as I'd used it on him a few times when he'd gotten on my bad side. He looked over at me and added, "You've always been pretty tough though. I guess you don't need anyone looking out for you, huh?"

I wasn't sure what to say to that. I looked at Dally, searching his eyes to see if he was being serious or just making fun of me. He looked back at me, his ice blue eyes seemed to be filled with genuine affection. It was a look I had never seen on Dally before and I didn't know what to make of it.

We sat for a few minutes in silence, until Dally spoke. "Hey, Kat," he asked.

"Huh?" I inquired.

"Did you know I got hauled in by the cops that day?" he asked me.

I hadn't known that. "No, I didn't," I answered, "What happened?"

"Your dad came down to the police station and told the cops that it wasn't my fault. He told them I was a good kid, just at the wrong place at the wrong time." Dally replied, then he added quietly, "That I was just trying to make sure you were okay."

I hadn't known that either. It didn't surprise me though. That was the sort of thing my dad would have done. "I didn't know that Dal," I told him, "Dad never said anything."

"Yeah he decided not to. He said he didn't want you or your mom to worry about it. " Dally said frankly. "Your dad was a nice guy," he added, "I just thought you should know that."

I smiled. That sounded just like my dad. He really was a nice guy. And it was nice to hear Dally say it. I wondered what other secrets Dallas Winston had.


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N- **Read and review! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer - **I don't own 'The Outsiders'

**Chapter 23**

After we paid the bill, Dally decided to take off to find Two-Bit. I said good bye to Sarah, who told me three times that if I needed _'anything at all,' _to call her. Then I grabbed the extra food that I had ordered and I headed over to see Darry.

Darry and the rest of his crew were working on a roof on an apartment building not far from Mel's. With Steve's car it only took a few minutes to drive there. I made a mental note to give Steve some money for gas. Having a car was nice, I couldn't wait until the jeep was finished and ready for me to drive. When I arrived at the apartment building, I parked the car on the far side and got out to find Darry. It didn't take long.

As I walked around to the other side of the building, I found Leo, Darry's boss, sitting on some steps, looking at some papers. He looked up as I approached, "Well good day, Kat," he said with a smile, then he added, "I heard about Ponyboy, I'm really sorry."

I smiled back, more out of politeness than anything. I silently wondered how many more people were going to tell me they were sorry about what happened to Ponyboy. I was starting to get annoyed by the constant sympathy. "Hi Leo," I said, "Where's Darry?"

"He's around here somewhere," Leo said waving his arm around, "DARREL!" He yelled.

A few seconds later Darry appear looking tired and worn out. When he saw me, his face lit up, "Hey Kat! Did you hear something about Pony?" he asked in anticipation.

I hated having to lie to Darry. "Uh….no," I said slowly. Darry's face fell slightly, but he kept his eyes fixed on me. It made me feel guilty. I held up the paper bag I was carrying, trying to change the subject, "I brought you some lunch, though."

Darry grinned and looked over to Leo, "Leo, you mind if I take a quick break?" Leo only nodded and waved Darry away. We walked back to the front of the building and sat on the hood of Steve's car.

Darry opened the bag and smiled when he saw it's contents. "BLT! And a chocolate shake!"

"Your favorites," I said with a grin.

Darry quickly began eating and I realized that he had left the house that morning without eating breakfast. They all had. I decided I had better not stay long, so I could take Soda and Steve there lunch too. Darry looked over at me and asked, "What have you been up to this morning?"

I wanted so badly to scream out, 'I went to Buck's and I found out that Pony and Johnny are okay! Dally knows where they are!' But I couldn't I had promised.

"Um…just went to the Dingo and saw Two-Bit and Kathy and Mike. Then I went to see Dal and we went and had lunch at the diner….and now I'm here." I said. Inside a voice shouted 'And Pony is okay!' I looked over at Darry wondering if he would know that I was lying to him.

If he did, he didn't let on. He only nodded in reply, because his mouth was full. He seemed to be inhaling his sandwich and milkshake. It was probably a good thing that Darry couldn't ask any more questions because, I felt like I was going to explode. Darry quickly finished his sandwich and milkshake and we sat in silence for a few minutes. I was afraid to open my mouth for fear I might let my secret slip. Turned out I didn't really have to worry about it.

After a minute Darry turned to me and asked, "Dallas knows where Pony and Johnny are doesn't he?"

I stared at him, not knowing what to say. So, I said nothing. Darry kept talking, "I was thinking about it all morning and it finally dawned on me. If Dally didn't know where Johnny was he'd be going crazy by now." It was the exact same conclusion that I had come to. Darry looked at me for a response, but I just looked down at the ground, not wanting to look him in the eye. He continued, "It's okay if you don't want to tell me, Kat. I'll just go talk to Dally myself. Knock it right out of him." Darry's eyes glinted.

I felt my own eyes get wide. The last thing I wanted was for Darry to go _beat_ information out of Dally. "He made me swear not to say anything." I blurted out. Immediately I felt guilty for having said it. I felt like I was betraying Dally.

Darry let out a huge sigh of relief. "I'm just glad that someone saw them and that they're okay."

We sat in silence for a few moments. Then I spoke, "Dally said it was best for us to stay out of it. What do ya think he meant by that?" I asked turning to Darry.

"Well," Darry said thinking for a moment, "Probably that it would be best if all of us didn't get mixed up in a murder. He's right to, ya know, it's bad enough Pony's involved in this whole thing, but if you and me and Soda were too, the state would be at our front door so fast to take our little brothers away…." He sighed and then continued, "It's gonna be bad enough when Pony does get home….we're gonna have a lot of explaining to do."


End file.
